A Light of Hope From Days Past
by Shadow Master
Summary: (BtVS/Green Lantern/Marvel Universe) A dimension's darkest moment casts forth a spark of light. A chance moment changes its destination but to what end no one knows.
1. Chapter 1

"A Light of Hope From Days Past" by Shadow Master

(BtVS/Green Lantern/Marvel Universe)

ryley[underscore]breen

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever nor do I intend to change that in the future. I write because I enjoy it and because there are those that like reading my works. Therefore I would greatly appreciate it if you refrained from taking any legal action against me. I can guarantee you that your legal costs will easily be ten times whatever you might get from me.

Note 1: Timeline-wise this'll take place during the year 2000 in the Marvel/BtVS universe. That means if you want to know when this happens in the published Marvel Comics titles check the small print on the first few pages for anywhere from a Jan 2000 to a Dec 2000 copyright. As for the GL universe shown in the beginning it'll happen near the end of an alternate 'Wrath of the First Lantern' story arc.

Note 2: As always if you are a reader who doesn't like it when writers deviate even a little bit from established canon then I advise you to turn around right now. While I will do my best to stick as close to canon as possible NOTHING will get in the way of me telling the story I want to tell. I will change and modify anything I need to in order to tell the story I want to tell.

 _A Light of Hope From Days Past_

 _ **Reality 010513**_

 _ **The Center of the Universe, Oa, Headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps**_

 _ **The End, Ganthet's POV**_

They had failed.

In every way possible the self-appointed Guardians of the Universe had failed.

Unlike many who were confronted with failure as complete as this, he had no trouble trying to find where he and his brethren had gone wrong because there were quite a few moments in their lives where they made mistakes. The problem was that he and his fellow evolved beings had thought that the reason for their failure lay in their operatives or tools rather than in themselves. They had tapped into the emotional spectrum and at first thought to create an army of warriors; that had ended in disaster when the first recruit to wield it went insane and nearly rewrote all reality. They thought that emotions were the source of the problem so they stripped it from their souls and created emotionless robots called Manhunters to instill law and order into the galaxy. This turned to disaster when a programming glitch implanted by their fallen brother Krona caused the Manhunters to wipe out every sentient in sector six-six-six.

It was monstrous, a crime that had forced his comrades to wipe all mention of it from the Book of Oa.

Nevertheless, the madman's point had been made: robots were not suited to bringing law and order to the galaxy. They lacked the emotions that would let them fully utilize the power of the Central Power Battery and, without emotion, it was impossible to feel empathy for others and that was necessary in order to dispense justice.

It was then that they created the Green Lantern Corps.

It had been decided that their newest force of soldiers would be made up of living beings possessing free will and strong moral character. With the ability to channel the green spectrum of energy that was willpower through their rings, members of the Corps were limited only by the power capacity of their rings, their willpower and their imagination. Nevertheless, they made sure to put certain safety protocols into the rings in order to ensure that the potential for abuse of the power was kept to a minimum. No one with mental instability would be able to use their ring, the power would be incapable of affecting the color yellow, rage would drain power from the ring at an accelerated rate and a necessity to recharge the ring every planetary axial rotation.

For a time it seemed to work, with law and order gaining in dominance across all thirty-six hundred sectors of space. However, when crisis after rebellion brought the Corps to the brink of irreparable extinction, a change came over his brethren where they began to question if their new fighting force was still viable. More controlling factors, such as the creation of the Alpha Lanterns, with the intent of making them an internal affairs department that would ensure that another Hal Jordan or Sinestro would never get out of hand again, modifications and amendments were also made to the Book of Oa in order to address what the Green Lanterns could or could not do. However, as other Corps, groups that harnessed the other six elements of the emotional spectrum, emerged, the age old prophecy of the Blackest Night came up for discussion with increasing frequency during Guardian meetings. His kin believed that the other Corps that appeared needed to be shunned or, if they became an increasing disruption, to order their immediate apprehension and imprisonment in the sciencells. In the case of the Sinestro Corps or Atrocitus' Red Lantern Corps, he had no objection to such treatment but the others had been potential allies in his mind.

He was alone in this sentiment.

In the end all the changes and actions taken to prevent the Darkest Night proved to be useless as the dead rose and, under Nekron's direction, sought to return the universe to absolute darkness. It was the combined efforts of members from each Corps and the manifestation of the white energy that saved the day rather than the sole actions of the Guardians of the Universe and their Green Lantern Corps. He had hoped that, in the aftermath of this, his kin would realize that their objective of universal peace and order could be greatly aided by accepting help from the more like-minded Corps but instead the reverse happened. His kin became more stubborn than ever before that emotions were to be suppressed and the other Corps were all potential threats to the galactic order they wished to create. However it wasn't until the calamity that was the return of Krona and his seizing of the manifestations of the emotional energy spectrums that talk began of replacing the Green Lantern Corps with something 'better'.

In order to silence his protests once and for all they used their combined power to forcibly strip him of all emotions in the single most horrendous experience he had ever known. With the one dissenting vote forcibly overturned, plans began to unleash The Third Army of the Guardians starting with their removal of certain pieces from the universe. Hal Jordan was removed under the pretense of what happened with Krona, namely Jordan managing to override several of the rings protocols to slay their mad brother, while using the unexpectedly inducted Sinestro to dismantle his own Corps. Kyle Rayner, someone he'd considered a son of sorts, had managed to escape immediate imprisonment but, with the label of rogue Green Lantern attached, they believed no one else would aid him. The Alpha Lanterns were dealt with through the subtle manipulation of John Stewart and Guy Gardner while other plans were being put into motion to deal with both of the humans. One after another every human Green Lantern, as well as the more dangerous members of the other Corps, were dealt with until on Earth they gave birth to their new 'soldiers'.

Though calling them that was a stretch of intergalactic proportions.

Utilizing the energy from the First Lantern and combining it with their own flesh, they created an organic construct that would serve as the first of their Third Army. This first one had no will of its own and was merely an extension of the minds of he and his brethren, obeying orders given without hesitation. They had no mouths so they could not speak, even if they wanted to. They had no heart so they could feel no emotions whatsoever. Their glowing green brains were exposed as a sign that they were under the control of others. However the most terrifying feature was how they could create copies of themselves merely by coming into contact with another sentient. Much like a virus, their DNA would infiltrate the subject's bio-matter and rewrite it at an aggressive pace, transforming the sentient from individual to a member of the Third Army in under five minutes. These.. .creatures could tear through the constructs of virtually any Lantern as well as the protective skintight fields that surrounded them and, once contact was made, conversion occurred far too fast to be countered.

At first they had the Third Army operate covertly so that they could build their numbers up without attracting the attention of their predecessors until it was too late. However, when it became clear that news of the Third Army was going to get out sooner rather than later as they'd intended, they chose to selectively reveal the truth to the Green Lantern Corps. All Lanterns were summoned back to Oa for 'inoculation' against the new threat when in truth they were paralyzed in preparation to undergo conversion into members of the Third Army. It was then, though, that the rogue members of the Corps chose to act, with those off world coming in rings blazing alongside their allies and those still on Oa, disrupting the paralysis that kept those Lanterns on Oa under control. All at once a battle broke out that had them backed up against the proverbial wall, forcing them to draw even more power from the First Lantern in order to turn the tide.

This proved to be a terrible mistake.

With the strain that they were putting on the prison of the First Lantern, the madman chose that moment to break free, making an already bad situation worse. With the ability to alter reality due to his exposure to the First Ring and the combined energies of the emotional spectrum, the power to drain emotional energy by exposing sentient beings to potent memories from their past and his obvious insanity, Volthoom was a force unlike any that'd come before.

Helpless alongside his kin as they were imprisoned in an energy field, they could only observe as the ghost from their past as he went about tormenting the more notable Lanterns. The villain tempted them with the possibility of changing tragic events of their past, tormented them with the possible ways their defining moments could have otherwise happened and, during it all, absorbed the energy produced to make himself stronger. However, as was the case with most who coveted power, Volthoom was not satisfied with what he'd gained from the Lanterns on or above Oa and had departed in a flash of light.

The reason for this became clear hours later when the madman returned with the Great Heart and promptly used its power to not only boost his power to new heights but also to thrust back into him and his colleagues the emotions they'd stripped from themselves millennia ago. It had been overwhelming for the others as they had not experienced any emotion in thousands of years but he had fared better due to the item he held within him. Though 'better' did not mean 'good' as the memories of what he'd done since his kin had robbed him of his emotions left him awash with guilt, grief and self-loathing. It had been at that point that he would not resist if someone desired to harm him, be it physically or mentally, because in his mind he deserved it. In fact, at that moment he'd predicted that Volthoom would brutally remove the precious item he carried within him since it was the next logical step in madman's plans to reshape reality to suit his whims.

It was then, though, that the first ray of hope pierced the gloom that had seemed stronger than the Creator himself.

Volthoom chose to return to the cosmos to devour even more emotional energy from the sentient beings of the galaxy.

Even better than that, the psychotic chose to release him and the others, albeit only after draining them of all but the minimal amount of power. The reason the madman gave was that even death row prisoners deserved some time out in the yard before they walked their final mile. The truth, he'd known, was far simpler: Volthoom didn't believe they could do anything to stop him with most of their power gone and their minds crippled by emotions they hadn't felt since the beginning. When added to the fact that the Lanterns scattered across the surface of Oa weren't in much better shape, the reality warping human had reason to be confident.

However the choice would prove to be his undoing.

Mustering as much resolve as he'd been able to, he began to look for ways that he could make the most of this opportunity but within the first hour could only come up with one possible plan. They could not hope to defeat Volthoom using conventional warfare and tactics. The gap in power between the two sides was simply too much to overcome, even if they found hosts for the entities that embodied the various parts of the emotional spectrum. If they did that then at most they could manage a stalemate for a few days before the battle tipped in Volthoom's favor. Therefore it became necessary to think of something a little more unconventional that held the best chance of successfully undoing the many wrongs that had been committed.

He chose time travel.

If the right information could be sent back to the right time period, then everything could be changed and perhaps ensure that some mistakes were not repeated. He and his comrades had long since learned the particulars for travelling through time but had never dabbled in it themselves due to the unforeseeable consequences. They'd even done what they could to discourage or sabotage the efforts of others who'd chosen to delve into the same region of science but, every once in a while, someone managed to slip past them. In his case, though, he knew that all the necessary components to construct his own temporal archway existed on Oa, so that part of his plan would merely need time.

The second part of his plan was a little more complicated.

The plan entailed sending all the information necessary to alter the course of the future through the portal to the person best capable of making use of it. This was no small amount of information and that meant that the method of storing it would have to be either big and simple or small and sophisticated. The archway he would be creating could not be large because that would take time he very much doubted they had, so small and sophisticated it was. In the end he chose a container that would be able to have a say in whether or not it divulged the information it contained, as well as give the recipient a means to keep the unworthy at bay.

 _I never thought I would literally apply the human phrase 'cough it up', but it was necessary,_ he thought as he looked over at the simple green ring that hovered in the information transference field. _If I can send that through the archway along with the information, it will be a major blow against Volthoom._

The final part of the plan had been the hardest to gain and, to be honest, he considered it nothing less than a miracle that he got as many of them to agree as he had. With the power the enemy possessed, he was under no delusions about how long it'd be before his plans became known and then the madman would come in force to stop him. The odds of him being able to successfully transfer the ring through to the past without help was slim and he'd known it. Therefore he'd been forced to seek aid from anyone and everyone he could to form a defensive barrier between the room where the archway resided and Volthoom. It wasn't easy, considering how thoroughly the Lanterns had been defeated in their initial encounter with the psychotic man, and even harder considering their collective animosity towards him, but they found reasons of their own to help him.

Some did it because they conceded that there was no way that Volthoom could be defeated using power rings and constructs, no matter how many there were.

Some did it because his returned emotions had at least partially restored their trust in him.

Some did it because they didn't want any scheming going on behind their backs and didn't want anything major going on without having a say in what happened.

It was Sinestro who insisted that representatives from each Lantern Corp be permitted to download messages into the ring to be transmitted the moment the object reached the desired time period. He discerned that the man of Korugar wanted this so that the existence of the ring as well as the information it contained could not be kept secret. One by one the messages were beamed into the First Ring, with instructions that matched Sinestro's stipulation and, once all were convinced that the messages could not be deleted or blocked, they agreed to buy him as much time as they could. How long that would be was anyone's guess but he would be grateful for whatever he could get.

His head snapped to the side as a light on the wall began to flash red at regular intervals.

 _He's coming._ He sped up his efforts as best he could without making mistakes. _Long range Oan satellites have picked up his approach. He is not too concerned. His mistake!_

Indeed, with the power that Volthoom possessed, it would've been all too easy simply to teleport into the room but the man's sense of fun no doubt found it amusing to show them how useless their living wall truly was. It would be a mistake because he'd sensed Sinestro merging with Parallax and then Kyle merging with Ion. That was encouraging as it would give him more time but he did not allow this to slow his pace because, even with the power the two men possessed, it would not be enough to deny the enemy victory.

He did his best to ignore the sounds of battle that penetrated the walls of the room, the bits of ceiling that sprinkled down on his head, and dots of energy he could sense disappearing every couple of seconds. He worked like a man doing the most important task of his entire life, efficiently using his time to assemble the archway as swiftly as he could. When the hardware was assembled he began loading the software necessary to operate it, making only minor modifications in order to ensure the machine would do what was needed. In time, though, the sounds of the Lanterns fighting with every ounce of strength they possessed became impossible to ignore, especially the screams that cut through the air. Some he could not match to a name but many he could and his face twisted with grief with each one that he heard, with one or two requiring that he take a moment to steady his hands before continuing.

 _Just a little more time. I just need a little more TIME!_ he thought as he began the startup sequence for the archway.

When he watched the event horizon of the temporal archway began to manifest, his feeling of hope grew and with confident fingers he entered the desired date, time and location he wished the ring to go. However it was as he reached for the ring that the hope of many was put in peril as something crashed through the ceiling of the room before impacting the floor behind him. Turning, he needed to wait a minute for the dust and debris to settle but what he saw when both did nearly broke his heart.

It was Arisia.

What was left of her, anyway, because her battle against Volthoom had left her seriously injured, with one arm seared clear off and a wound to the left side of her head that had destroyed an ear as well as rendered the eye on the same side completely blinded. Miracle of miracles, though, she was still conscious and, even as he watched, was struggling to get back to her feet, the protective field generated by her ring barely visible to the naked eye. Either her ring was running on fumes or her mind was barely remaining coherent enough to will the skintight field to remain in place. Neither boded well for the young Graxosian but it was a testament to the strength of her willpower that she hadn't lost consciousness already.

"Y-you… have to… h-hurry, Ganthet," Arisia gasped as she took one unsteady step towards him after another. "T-there's only… a… a dozen of us… left. H-he's coming…"

Then, before he could use his power to levitate a chair over to her, an encompassing blast of energy dropped from the ceiling, enveloping the young woman and reducing her to a pile of ash in seconds. Immediately after the blast dissipated, the one who fired it floated down through the hole in all his horrible glory. A grey body with a visible nervous system composed of all the colors of the emotional spectrum identified the person as Volthoom and, when the face came into view, the madness was clear to see.

Knowing that time was running out he telekinetically pulled the ring to his hand even as he fired the most powerful energy blast he was capable of directly at the madman. It caused him to feel dizzy for a moment but it couldn't be helped if he was to get the ring through the archway successfully. As fast as his little feet could carry him he moved towards the curtain of energy since he no longer possessed the strength to send the ring through telekinetically. His breathing was heavy but all the air left him when a pencil-thin beam of energy pierced his body, causing him to cry out in pain as he fell to the floor then slid a foot or so.

"I really don't know why you bothered, Ganthet," Volthoom said casually as he strode forward. "You're powerless. All your toy soldiers have been turned into mulch and you can't even walk anymore. What do you really think you can do now?"

"I would've thought… someone like you… would know better, Volthoom," he bit out as he inched closer to the archway while using his body to keep the ring from being visible to the psychotic. "One person… CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!"

With all the strength he could muster he threw the charged and data-carrying ring at the archway's event horizon, praying that the Creator of All would not abandon him in his time of direst need.

"NNNOOOOOOO!" Volthoom cried out since he no doubt recognized the First Ring.

However the judgment of a man overcome with emotion was notoriously poor and the First Lantern proved to be no exception since, instead of grabbing the First Ring, he fired a blast at the generator for the archway. No doubt Volthoom had intended to shut down the machine before the ring could enter the event horizon but the man obviously knew nothing of high technology. As a precaution against his foe sensing what he was up to, he had asked ten of the Lanterns to donate a portion of their ring's energy to power the archway. He'd been concerned that, if he tried to tap into the main power grid of Oa or the Central Power Battery, that it'd be like firing off a signal flare to Volthoom's senses. Under normal circumstances this turn of events would not be a problem but the sheer amount of energy the madman had sent at the power absorbing unit was far more than it'd been designed to handle.

It'd trigger an overload.

Even knowing this, though, he was helpless to do anything but watch as various spots of the archway sparked and arcs of energy danced about it in a dazzling light show. More than that, the curtain of energy that represented the divide between the present and the past grew in luminous light until it was blinding to all present. When it all ceased ten seconds later, he looked back towards the temporal archway to find a blackened, broken mess of hardware that would require considerable work to repair. Neither he nor Volthoom, though, were concerned with the status of the archway but rather the location of the First Ring, causing both of them to search the last place they'd seen it. When nothing came up, the psychotic let out a bellow of rage and energy that obliterated the building, with the only safe place being the eye of the storm where he was.

It had worked!

The ring was gone and most likely travelling through time and space to the one person he trusted to use the information in it wisely.

"I… would suggest that… you take the seconds… we… likely… have left to pray to whatever god you have, Volthoom," he said with a satisfied smile on his face. "Quite soon the temporal wave… resulting from the changes made in the past will… reach us, changing everything. You're going back to your prison!"

The look of utter fury on the madman's face was priceless, making the pain he was experiencing feel inconsequential by comparison. He idly wondered what his last image of the man would be before the timeline reset itself to match the changes made in the past but he knew it wouldn't matter. When all was said and done, he would not remember the horrors of the past few years since they would hopefully be replaced with better times, along with unharmed friendships.

All that was left to do was wait.

It was only after a minute passed with everything remaining just as it had for the past four hours that doubt began to creep into his heart.

 _It should've happened by now,_ he thought as he mentally did math that would leave most sentient scientists agape. _Temporal corrections always occur shortly after the traveler arrives at the destination. What's going on?!_

"My ring is gone… GONE!" Volthoom snapped with barely contained fury. "However you've failed, too, Ganthet. The timeline is unchanged. I REMAIN!"

As the seconds ticked by without anything happening, he could not dispute the words being spoken to him and could only guess what might've happened. The overload from the First Lantern could have caused the ring to overshoot its destination. It could've vaporized the ring the moment it touched the event horizon of the archway. Whatever happened, the one thing that could not be disputed was that his plan had failed and all the sentients that'd put their faith in him. The only thing to surpass the heights to which he'd allowed his hope to soar was the depths of sorrow he now plunged to, knowing it'd all been for nothing.

"Aren't you going to spout some heroic platitude, Ganthet?" Volthoom asked mockingly as he shifted from anger to malicious humor. "Aren't you going to make one final charge of defiance?"

"Even if I had the power to, Volthoom, I do not know," he replied as all thought of taking action faded from within him. "After everything that's happened, after all these deaths… I failed… I've lost everything I cared about. I have nothing left."

"No. You still have one more thing to lose, Ganthet," Volthoom said as he stretched out his right arm. "Let me fix that."

BTHOOM!

 _ **Earth 616, Eight Thousand B.C**_

 _ **The North Western Hemisphere**_

No scientist saw what happened that night.

No local ones existed for it was an age where superstitions and what would be considered mythologies one day were considered the one unquestionable truth.

No non-terrestrial scientists were present for this star system was not considered important enough to warrant a permanent presence and at this time none of them were present.

Therefore none could see as space twisted like fabric being scrunched up by an invisible hand, and then turned counter clockwise before a jagged piece of light appeared in the center of it all. Five seconds later a tiny speck of bright green light exited from the center of the phenomena before shooting towards the planet at speeds that would later be compared to the top speed of an SR-71. It wouldn't have taken an observer, had there been one, long to determine that the green speck of light was heading for the western seaboard of North America. As the burn of atmospheric re-entry began to manifest, the touchdown point was narrowed down to the state of California and afterwards to the area that would one day be called Los Angeles. However, just as it was on final approach to Los Angeles, something happened that seriously affected the light's trajectory, causing it to wobble erratically.

In the end it missed its original destination by quite a bit and hit the ground a little under two thousand miles per hour as the car drove northwest of its intended landing zone.

Slamming into the ground, it penetrated into an underground cave before it finally came to a stop but, as it tried to rise into the air once more to reach the spot where it had been programmed to go, its sophisticated onboard sensors showed it a curious fact. Several of the primitive monitoring systems and technologies it'd been told to hide itself from were absent from its scans, along with several notable landmarks that would've been used by its secondary navigation program to reach its destination. As per standard protocol it began a comprehensive scan of everything within range of its sensors and then compared it to what existed in its records. It concluded that something had occurred to drastically affect the temporal co-ordinates of the archway, resulting in it being deposited decidedly further in the past then it should've been. By its calculations it was a full ten thousand years prior to when it should, making reaching its intended recipient impossible. Therefore it computed the various scenarios and strategies at its disposal, looking for the one with the highest probability of it reaching its programmed recipient successfully. After careful consideration it determined that placing itself into stasis and reducing energy consumption to the minimum required in order to preserve the data stored on it held the highest probability of success.

Descending to the dirt floor it initiated stasis protocol while ensuring that passive security procedures would be observed for the duration.

Thus all evidence of the arrival of the First Ring vanished from sight and, as the centuries went by, nature did its part by covering it was dirt. The dirt then changed to stone and, with the energy that was oozing from the dimensional rift close by rolling over it, no one ever found it…

…until the middle of October 2000 A.D., that is.

 _ **Sunnydale, California**_

 _ **The Magic Box, Late Morning, Buffy's POV**_

"Where do you want this, Giles?" Xander said as he carried in another crate of magic stuff brought in from the delivery truck out front.

"Just put it on the counter, Xander," Giles replied while walking the room with a checklist. "I'll get to it just as soon as I finish confirming a few items here."

"Sure," Xander said as he began to move towards the counter.

While the Magic Shop had items in stock when her former Watcher had purchased it to run himself, much of it had to be thrown out due to a poor shelf life and the amount of time that'd passed since the business had last been ready for customers. She'd heard him grumble a few times at the cost of replacing the stock but never enough to make him consider throwing in towel when it came to running the Magic Shop. It just meant that it was fortunate that the previous owner of the place was dead because otherwise there'd be a well-prepared British lecture heading his way on the matter of proper preservation methods for magical ingredients. According to Giles, this was the last shipment for the next few months and had asked Xander for help unloading everything and stocking the shelves. This had been a good thing, considering what'd happened just last week: Anya'd left town and wasn't expected back anytime soon.

Apparently the woman wasn't satisfied with Xander's lack of ambition in his workplace, resulting in an argument that'd left her friend a drunken mess that'd taken both her as well as Willow a day or two to put back together. In the end it became clear that the former Vengeance Demon had only viewed the four year member of the Scooby Gang as a source of pleasure as well as profits rather than what many had hoped was love. It had been hard for her friend, who'd no doubt hoped that his relationship with Anya would be better than the one with Cordelia, but that did not come to pass. It was one of the reasons Giles had asked for Xander's help at the Magic Box since it was hoped that this distraction would help the young man out. The rest of them had other things planned to help their friend get over being dumped, with various activities and tasks that would keep him busy but not arouse his suspicion. Her mother had even gotten in on it by asking Xan to babysit Dawn later this week while she went out of town 'on a business trip', since those two always got along together great. A night together watching movies and munching on junk food would be a great boost for her guy friend's mood and keep her from having to babysit the brat instead.

Don't get her wrong, she loved her little sister and would do whatever it took to keep her safe, but the little midget just got under her skin like few others could sometimes.

As for why she was at the Magic Shop… she'd kinda broken something important back home and was hiding out until her mother calmed down to talk things through rationally. It'd been a TOTAL accident and, really, if it was so valuable her mother should've known better than to put it in the hallway upstairs between her room and the bathroom. She'd been half asleep due a long night of slaying and before she'd realized what was going on she'd tripped, knocking the piece of art over and causing it to shatter on the floor. Needless to say she'd gotten dressed and slipped out the back window the instant her mind identified the remains as something her mother had told her had cost quite a bit to acquire.

She figured it'd be safe to go home in time for supper.

Hearing the sound of a cell phone ringing, she looked about to see whose it was only to be a little surprised to find it was Xander's. Sure, he'd gotten a decent paying job in construction and, thanks to a side effect of the Feraly Gemimi thing they went through recently, got a promotion, but she'd figured it'd be a while before he got all spendy with his new cash flow. Watching as her friend took out his cell phone, she only listened in for a minute before realizing that it was work related, causing her to turn back to the magazine she'd been reading. While she'd made an effort in the past to show some interest in construction work, if only to give herself something else to talk to Xander about, she just didn't have the brain for it.

The call took about five minutes to finish but when it did she could tell something was up.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to bail on you, G-Man," Xander said as he set down everything he hadn't entered the shop with. "That was the boss on the line. Says he wants me on a job just outside the city limits past Paris Street. The client bought a lot of land cheap out there and wants an apartment complex set up there ASAP."

"Really? Where is this land precisely?" Giles asked, sounding not opposed to this turn of events but rather mildly interested.

"Someplace called White Sands Oasis," Xander replied after a moment's thought.

"Interesting. Still, I would advise you not to become too invested in the project, though," G-Man said with a nod of his head.

"Why? What's wrong with the place?" Xander asked, sounding worried.

A sound response seeing as how some places in or around Sunnydale tended to be a demony death trap of some kind.

"Er, well, nothing harmful from what I can recall," Giles replied before the looks from everyone else in the room prompted him for elaboration. "When I learned that I was going to be stationed in Sunnydale five years ago I did some research on the area. Though there was a glaring number of omissions in the files, suspicious ones at that, I did see an entry about the area you are going to. Apparently it possesses a sort of unique energy field that makes every demon breed that entered the area wish to leave it within a few hours. No explanation given."

"Well that's a good thing, right? If this place has been around for so long then the vamps and demons will steer clear of the place so me and the guys can do our work without risking our necks," Xander said, sounding puzzled as to why his new job would end quickly.

"It would be except that humans also tend to feel the same compulsion to depart the area and never come back," Giles said, cleaning his glasses thoroughly. "It takes longer, of course, a few days usually, but humans are unable to resist the inner 'gut feeling' and leave. Even if your employers never visit the construction site, I'd wager you and your fellow employees will experience the compulsion, leave and refuse to return to the area no matter what."

"You got a theory on what's causing it all?" Xander asked, sounding less worried but still interested.

"Considering the localized area of effect and the indiscriminate targeting of the compulsion, I'd wager either a potent mystical artifact or an omni-purpose ward. Perhaps both," Giles said after a few minutes of contemplation. "It's possible that something mixed happened there, a combination of both light and dark magic, that has left lingering traces that have endured to this very day. There was nothing in the files on the area to indicate who might have been responsible, so I would wager it happened well over a thousand years ago."

"That's some major mojo for it to last that long," Xander said, sounding a little intimidated.

"Indeed, however I do not believe you need to concern yourself with it. If the job you have been hired to do lacks sufficient workers then it will likely fall through forcing your employers to terminate it." Giles said reassuringly as he put his glasses back on.

"It'll be a bit of a bummer since the client's looking to throw some major cash our way but, if the place has bad juju, then I guess it can't be helped," Xan said, sounding a little disappointed in what would happen in a few days. "Well see you guys later!."

With that Xander left the Magic Shop, leaving the rest of them to help Giles get everything squared away with the current delivery.

For a moment she was concerned about her friend, even though Giles had just explained that there was nothing bad about the place. Xan didn't exactly have a lot of good luck when it came to magic and, if he was going to a place that affected people just by proximity, there was no telling what could happen. He could wind up triggering some kind of magic catastrophe that they'd feel from the Shop or something! Regardless of her friend's declaration that he would no longer be the universe's 'butt-monkey', she had to admit that reality did tend to like putting him in tough spots that he often needed help getting out of.

 _Maybe I should…_ she thought before a comforting hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Buffy," Giles said, looking at her with a fatherly eye. "I will admit that Xander does usually have the worst luck concerning the paranormal but it will only be for a few days at most. Surely nothing can happen in so short a time."

"Giles… this is Sunnydale, remember? Boca del Inferno? The Hellmouth?" she said, looking at him like he was an overly positive optimist. "We have unlikely every day, surprises every week and the impossible every other month. With Xander the odds get suckier than usual."

"Point," Giles said, realizing that his former charge might be right.

"So we should get ready for something to happen?" she asked, just to confirm that they were united on a course of action.

"It would be prudent," Giles replied before going back to the clipboard. "I will make sure we have all the necessary ingredients for diagnostic and detection spells, as well as the more common remedies for magical or demonic afflictions. I would suggest you pay a visit to some of the older demons in Sunnydale to see if they know anything we do not about the White Sands Oasis. With luck someone the Council does not know about has tried to use the phenomena for their own benefit at least a few times."

"On it!" she said, glad to have something other than lounging around the Magic Shop to keep her occupied until it was safe to go home.

She just hoped that she didn't get any yucky demon goo on her clothes because she really liked the outfit she was wearing.

 _ **White Sands Oasis Property, Three Days Later, Early Afternoon, Xander's POV**_

 _Well, it's been two days already and so far no sign of 'get-out-of-dodge'-itis,_ he thought as he moved to pick up a shovel to help with the digging. _Guess me and the guys have a stronger tolerance for whatever the mojo field is than most people._

Still, until the boss officially gave the job the axe, he was going to treat it just like another day at work and do his best at whatever job needed doing. So far all they were doing was digging out the section of ground that the foundation would be set in, using bulldozers and backhoes for the big stuff and shovels for the more precision oriented tasks. Until all that was done they wouldn't move onto the cement pouring or metal I-beam planting, so he figured they'd probably just be about to do it when the head honchos pulled the plug on the whole thing. They were getting paid by the hour, so it wouldn't be a complete loss.

Reaching the equipment truck, he picked up a shovel at random before walking at a brisk pace to the far side of the digging area that was almost done. Bernie and Moe had been in charge of that spot but the latter threw out his back, causing the former to help him get someplace more comfortable, leaving him to finish their work. He didn't mind as he considered both guys friends and there wasn't really anywhere else that was a man down, so it'd keep him busy until something else opened up. Sure, he'd gotten a promotion, but he still wasn't high enough up the chain of command where just sitting on his ass was an option. Plus he didn't mind working since he preferred to work for a living rather than juggle paperwork or take meetings with other suit bureaucrats, since it was just more fulfilling in his opinion.

Plus he didn't want to find out firsthand if all the clichés about suit wearing execs were true because, if they were, then he just might resign rather than have anything to do with them.

When he arrived at the place he'd be digging, he figured that it'd only take an hour or so to reach the desired depth for this particular spot. Taking the shovel off his shoulder, he went to work using the correct technique that he'd been taught by one of the senior workers when he'd first got hired on. Apparently this method of shoveling would keep the muscle strain to a minimum and reduce the chances of a injuring yourself by a fair bit. Not that he thought he had much to worry about in that department, given the shape demon and vamp slayage had put him in, but it had sounded like good advice so he'd went with it. Anything that'd keep him from losing money while he recovered at home was a good thing.

"You need any help over there, Xan?" Al asked, walking by with the wheelbarrow.

"Nah. Just need to dig down a half dozen feet or so," he replied with his usual lopsided smile. "Should be able to finish before supper, easily."

"Okay," Al said with a nod before continuing on his way.

Losing himself in the repetitive motion of shoveling, he only casually checked what depth he was so he didn't go too deep, since that'd just force him to fill the space back in and that'd be a waste of time. However, just as he thought he was reaching the final foot of digging he'd have to shovel through, he hit something decidedly harder than the dirt he'd been hitting up until then. Still, this wasn't a problem for him since it was probably just a rock that, once he dug around it a bit to get an idea of its size, he'd either carry it clear himself or get some of the guys to help. Stuff like this always happened when building something on unused land that hadn't been touched before, so he was used to it. With probing pokes chosen through intuition, it didn't take him long to determine the rough shape of the rock as well as get a good idea of how big it was.

 _It'll be a bit of a strain but I can probably lift it solo._

Digging a bit so he could get a proper hand hold on the stone, he soon grabbed onto it and, with only a bit of strain on his body, he managed to pick the rock up. However, the moment it got to roughly waist level, though, he felt a noticeable tremble beneath his feet that he didn't like. Looking down towards his feet only made things worse as he noticed dirt begin to slide towards the spot where the rock had been at an ever increasing rate. It was then that he realized that the rock he'd just removed had been some kind of corner stone that'd kept everything else stable and by removing it he'd set off a chain reaction. Knowing that speed was needed he dropped the rock and prepared to make a run for it but all that wound up doing was hastening the breaking up of the ground for ten feet in every direction. Before he could get more than one or two steps away, the ground gave out beneath him and, with a yell of surprise, he fell for a good few seconds before hitting solid ground.

 _Okay… I'm man enough to admit it… OW!_ he thought as pain echoed through his body and he rolled to try and get to his feet.

It was painful, he didn't think he'd broken any bones in the fall, but he'd definitely have some bruising that'd take a few days to recover from. Getting to his feet, he looked around to see where he was and found it to be a cave of some kind, with three tunnels leading away from where he was but only one of which looked like it might take him back to the surface. Looking up, he could see that he'd fallen almost a full thirty feet but, when he looked to the sides of the cave, he found that there weren't enough decent hand holds to climb his way out. He'd have to be a world class free climber to manage it and, sadly, he couldn't claim that title, so the options would be to either wait for the crew to throw down a rope or take his chances with one of the tunnels.

 _Best to stay put,_ he thought as he sat on a suitable rock. _Tunnels near Sunnydale are usually inhabited and not by things that're overly friendly to humans. The guys should be along soon enough, given how long I yelled._

As he waited, though, he let his eyes wander about the cave just to keep his mind busy but he didn't really see anything all that remarkable at first. Just the usual shapes you'd expect to find in such a place, plus a few things that looked similar to things he knew, but nothing out of the ordinary. However, just as he was about to look up at the sky once again, a slight flicker of reflection caught his eye coming from a small hole about an inch from the floor of the cave. It was like light being reflected by glass or a piece of metal that was just polished enough. It was an anomaly and, against his better judgment, his curiosity was aroused enough to move in for a closer look, so he got off his 'seat' and walked towards the hole. He was halfway towards kneeling down to reach inside when dirt dropped from above and he heard the familiar voices getting closer.

"XANDER! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! XANDER!" yelled the foreman from high above him.

"YEAH. JUST A LITTLE SORE FROM THE FALL!" he yelled in reply as he looked up at the people circling the hole he'd fallen through. "THINK YOU CAN GET A ROPE AND HAUL ME OUT?"

"SURE! JUST GIVE US A COUPLE MINUTES!" the foreman yelled before disappearing from the edge of the hole.

"Sure. It's not like I'm going anywhere," he muttered as he went back to investigating the hole.

Kneeling down, he put his eye almost right up against the hole to try and see what was inside but there just wasn't enough light getting into the hole for him to make anything out. He was tempted for a minute to just leave it at that but curiosity still had a firm enough grip in his mind that he wasn't ready to give up just yet. He decided to see if he could scrounge it out with his fingers and so first he poked his index finger in to see if it was long enough to reach it. He put it in as far as he could but he didn't hit anything that felt like anything else other than stone or dirt. Deciding that the finger simply wasn't long enough, he switched to his middle finger and poked it into the hole, hoping to have better luck this time. This time he definitely managed to find something that was not dirt or stone but rather something decidedly smooth like glass or metal. He could only get the less than half an inch to touch his finger, even with his finger in as far as it was capable of going, and he knew it wouldn't be enough to pull it out whatever it was.

 _If it was…just a little…closer…_ he thought as he silently wished that it was just a little bit closer.

Without warning something happened that he hadn't anticipated in the slightest: with all the subtlety of a firecracker going off he felt the object MOVE towards him and wrap itself around his middle finger. In shock he pulled his finger out of the hole only to find that a ring was now on it made of a green metal and it had a symbol pounded into it. It was a large circle indentation and at its center was a symbol of some kind made up of a circle with a horizontal line at the top of the circle as well as at the bottom. It was crude in a way but it almost looked like a lantern of some kind, but then again maybe it was just his mind letting him see what he wanted them to see. Looking at it, he marveled at how, despite how long it must've been in the ground, it still was shiny enough to reflect light off of its surface. He speculated for a moment that maybe someone or something had used one of the tunnels and put the ring in the hole within the last five or so years, but he couldn't deduce any logical reason for that.

If the ring had been placed there to hide, it then it shouldn't have been so easy for him to get his hands on it. There should've been a guard or some kind of defensive measures in place, like spells, but he hadn't come across anything like that the entire time he was in the cave. Therefore the only conclusion he could come to would be that either the defenses had long since turned to dust or there'd never been any in the first place.

 _Whatever. I don't know what this thing is and, until I do, I want it off my finger,_ he thought as he reached for the ring and gripped it.

It wouldn't budge.

He tried as hard as he could but, no matter how much strength he put into it, the basic feeling he got was that he'd tear his own middle finger off long before the ring would finally be pried loose. It didn't feel like it was fused with his finger or anything, or like some kind of force was keeping it in place. However that didn't change the fact that nothing was going to make the metal object come off unless special methods were used and he didn't have access to them here.

 _Guess I'll be paying G-Man a visit later,_ he thought as he finally gave up trying to remove it. _Knowing my luck, it's probably some mystical bauble that'll take hours of chanting to get off._

Hearing the sounds of activity at the edges of the hole, he looked up and a moment later a rope was thrown down that ended just shy of the ground.

Time to climb out of this place.

 _ **The Magic Shop, That Evening, Rupert Giles' POV**_

"Well, it is certainly not something that is ringing any bells at first glance," he said as he examined the ring under a magnifying glass. "It is also quite simple in its design. Fairly unremarkable, really."

"So it's gonna be hard to put a name and a maker to it?" Xander asked, sounding worried.

"Not necessarily. The symbol is fairly distinctive and if I can scrape off a sampling of the material it's made out of, I should be able to gain an idea of its maker," he replied as he put down the latest volume he'd looked through for some clue as to the items identity. "Assuming it is not a normal, everyday ring, then the material it is made out of will give us an idea of its nature. The metals used in arcane or demonic rings are usually quite specific and are only available in certain places in the world. Once we get on a first name basis with the metal, the rest should fall into place fairly swiftly."

"Good. 'Cause I'm liking this thing less and less," Xander said, giving the green ring an unhappy look.

He couldn't blame the lad.

Given the retelling of how the young man had come across the object, it certainly did sound otherworldly in nature rather than something more commonplace. Buried in rock, in a cave, that connected to the considerable tunnel network that ran underneath Sunnydale, certainly lent some support to the theory that ring was demonic or supernatural in nature. However it wasn't ironclad since, despite what some might think, ordinary things did happen in and below Sunnydale that had nothing to do with the 'nightlife', as Buffy once called it. It was possible that the ring was a remnant of a settlement or home that existed on the land centuries ago and that the item had simply been buried as years of dirt piled on top of it.

Going behind the Magic Shop counter, he took out a small tool kit that he had set aside to examine the occasional item that someone would enter the store to try and sell. Sometimes it was a neutral or benign demon looking for some extra cash and other times it was some human who thought they'd found something valuable in their grandparent's attic chest. Granted, on the Hellmouth the odds of coming across an abnormal artifact was higher than it would be just about anywhere else, save a few other supernatural hotspots, so he saw no harm in keeping an inspection kit handy. Taking out the necessary tool to scrape off a few bits of the ring for examination and testing, he took a firm grip of the ring before pressing the tool to it and going to work.

He was a bit puzzled how, after the first half minute or so, nothing, not even the smallest particulate, came off the ring to fall into his hands. Deciding that the piece of jewelry must simply be made of sterner stuff than he'd originally thought he pressed down harder on it and added more effort to the scraping. He did his best not to make Xander feel any discomfort or pain but when more time passed without anything to show for his efforts, he seriously began to think that there was more to the ring than met the eye. This was only reinforced when he took a moment to look at the tool he'd been using to discover that the scraping teeth that should have been strong enough to get a few scrapings off had been worn own to almost nothing by his efforts. Whatever metal the ring was made of, it was VERY durable indeed and that certainly reduced the number of possibilities in his mind by quite a bit. Looking at the ring itself, he could see no damage at all to the surface he'd applied the tool to no matter how close he looked at it, both with the naked eye then a magnifying glass a few moments later. The list of materials capable of blunting his tool without so much as a microscopic scratch to show for it were few in number. If he looked for ones that were naturally green in color or could be made green through some kind of process, he was sure that the list would shrink even further.

"Well, this is certainly turning out to be more intriguing than I had originally thought," he said as he set his tools aside. "Whatever metal it's made out of it is decidedly more durable than common jewelry materials. Perhaps titanium or something more durable was used. How deep was the hole you fell into?"

"Twenty-thirty feet or so, I guess," Xander replied, sounding a little unsure of himself.

 _Ah the precise estimations I've come to expect from Americans,_ he thought fighting off a rolling of his eyes. _Still, at that depth, presuming it wasn't placed there by a traveler of the tunnels, it would imply that the ring was constructed well into the past. That would've been well before titanium was first utilized for anything, much less jewelry._

By humans at any rate, but there were only scattered studies done on demon metal work and the evolution of such efforts. If it had been made by demons, then at the very least it would narrow the search options since only some demon breeds were intelligent enough to do such work. Most of those that made rings and put symbols on them were catalogued since symbols often implied membership in an organization or at least an affiliation with one.

Grabbing a piece of paper, he did his best to copy the symbol on the ring in as exacting detail as he could manage given his modest drawing skills. He then drew a rough approximation of the ring in all its dimensions, as well as the symbol on it since it'd be impossible to have the genuine article around all the time. Once he was finished he set the piece of paper aside while making a mental list of the books and other resources he'd need to consult in order to learn more about the ring. Since resigning from the Watcher's Council, many of his information sources and allies had turned their backs on him but he still had a few that didn't fear the wrath of Quentin Travers. He'd see what they could tell him while he went through the relevant materials that he had in his own possession.

"Well, this is all I can do for now, Xander. I will look into the matter and get back to you as soon as I am able to," he said, turning to the young man he considered a surrogate son. "Please inform me if anything… unusual… occurs in connection to the ring, such as glowing, more unexpected occurrences of it moving and other such phenomena."

"Don't worry," Xander said with all due seriousness. "The second this thing starts making with the weird and doing the freaky, you'll be the first person I call."

"Good," he said, reassured that the youth was giving the matter the necessary gravity.

With that the lad left and he went to his bookshelf on the second floor to begin the necessary research into the matter.

Fortunately for Xander the earlier concern both he as well as Buffy had expressed about his work location had some of his sources already researching, so it would help narrow their search a bit when he provided them the details of the ring. Hopefully the item wouldn't be something TOO valuable, otherwise the inquiries about it would attract unwanted attention from others who might be looking for it. That would cause them to come to Sunnydale or hire someone to come and steal the ring, with it being highly unlikely that they'd care about the well-being of ring's current owner.

 _Right. Don't say a word to any of the gossip mongers,_ he thought, mentally x-ing out the sources he knew with loose lips or a tendency to take what they learned on one job to create a payday with another.

Risky working with those sort to begin with but when almost all of one's trustworthy contacts stop returning phone calls you had to take what you could get.

Doesn't mean you have to be stupid about it, though.

 _ **Summers Home, A Few Days Later, Dawn's POV**_

 _He's coming! He's coming!_ she thought as she frantically tried to find just the right combo of clothes to wear. _What should I wear!?_

Sure, she'd known for a couple of days that Xander would be coming to keep her company while her mother was off on a business trip and, sure, that meant that she should've had this all planned out, but now that the time was upon her she was second guessing everything. She wanted this night to be perfect, to be one more successful step towards her ultimate goal, but for that she needed to have every little detail covered from every angle known to womankind. The first, of course, was activities, what they'd be doing for the hours that her mother would be out, which had to be fun but at the same time subliminally brainwash him. Therefore she had picked movies that were sufficiently action packed that your average male would find them interesting but also ensure that they had an element of romance. While she'd been tempted to go even further and ensure that the central characters had hair colors similar to her and Xander, not to mention age similarities, she'd decided in the end that that would be a little too obvious. She'd also gotten out the 'Twister' mat, with all the requisite odds and ends since that'd prove useful in getting her future husband into compromising positions.

Especially since she'd practiced with the spin wheel to the point where she could get any color or limb she wanted with the flick of a finger.

Then, of course, came the snacks and the drinks.

She'd gone online and looked for the foods that would boost a person's libido, managing to find things like watermelon slices, black raspberries and bananas. Then there were the sweeter snacks that she knew Xander would appreciate, given his sweet tooth, like chocolate, plenty of Pepsi and of course two boxes of Twinkies. She'd use the healthy first choices in order to slip the less than healthy options past her mother when they'd gone to the grocery store. She didn't think her mother had figured it out but, even if she had, no road blocks had gone up so everything was good to go.

As for clothing, her original pick had been a sports bra (THANK YOU PUBERTY FAIRY!), spandex biking shorts with a loose fitting dress shirt that'd double as a nightgown. She'd of course wear the shirt to make it look like she only had that on and nothing else just to have some fun with him but she'd let him find out on his own that she really was wearing something more. It'd be fun to see him squirm right up until the point where he saw the truth, then it'd get interesting with 'Twister' since spandex left precious little to the male imagination. With a little luck, once he got a good enough look at her, he'd realize how MATURE she'd become and stop thinking of her as Buffy's little sister. She knew that the two biggest obstacles to her plans to marry Xander was the fact that he saw her as a kid and the sister of his best friend. Unless she made him see how grown up she'd become and how little her being related to Buffy mattered when it came to a relationship between the two of them, she was going to be stuck in the little niche he had her in.

Unofficially she knew she had her mother's blessing, even though the woman had never come right out and said anything about it. However she could clearly see the 'I approve of him as a potential boyfriend' look her mother gave Xander whenever he came over as well as the wistful look whenever she came upon either her or Buffy close together with Xander. As a result she knew that if she could just get Xan to take the first step, it'd be smooth sailing from that point onwards, with the exception of the bump in the road that was her sister. She knew that her sister would go ape at the idea of her dating one of her friends and would probably point out the age difference, even though her older sister dated an ensouled vampire who was centuries older than her while claiming he was her soulmate. She'd of course immediately point out that she was a lot closer to Xander in age then Buffy was to Angel, but then things would devolve into an argument that ended with her sister saying 'because I said so'.

In short, it'd probably take a couple of months of her dating Xander before Buffy got a clue and realized that she didn't have a say in who she dated.

 _HE'S HERE!_ she thought as she heard the doorbell, realizing that the time was up and she'd have to be satisfied with what she had on.

Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, she took a deep breath to settle her nerves before putting on a casual 'I am ready to hang out with you' look on her face. Doing her best to keep the spring out of her step, she left her room and made her way to the top of the staircase just in time to see her mother open the door to reveal Xander. She really tried but she just couldn't stop her mouth from taking on the shape of a fifty watt smile, so she stopped trying.

"Private Xander reporting for Dawn Watch, Ma'am!" Xander said mockingly with a salute.

"Then come in, private, and I'll give you your briefing," Mom laughed, sounding amused by the show.

With that her future husband, whether he knew it or not, entered the house and closed the door behind him.

"Your orders are to spend time with my youngest and make sure she has a fabulous evening but to make sure that she gets to bed at a semi-decent hour. That means no later than midnight and even that'd be stretching it a bit," Mom said with similar humor in her voice. "If there's any trouble then my cell phone and pager number are next to the phone. I don't expect you'll need to use it but it's there just the same."

"Orders received and committed to memory," Xander said, breaking out of his mock soldier routine. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she gets a good night sleep, one way or another."

 _OH! There are so many ways to interpret that!_ she thought even as her mind took a peek… a long peek… into the gutter.

She just had to say something. "I'll hold you to that," she said, causing both of the people at the bottom of the stairs to look up at her.

"Please don't say things that'll give me the wrong idea, dear," Mom requested with a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

"Who says it's the wrong idea?" she asked rhetorically.

While she had been completely honest with the implications, she decided she'd give her mother a break and let her think she was just saying things that'd get a good laugh out of all of them. Naturally her mother took the route that her mind was most comfortable with and that was that it was a big joke rather than something honest. Xander went the same route, of course, but she'd work on that for as long as it took until he saw the light and accepted that, when it came time for him to walk down the aisle, it'd be her waiting for him at the end of it.

"Well, you two have a good evening," Mom said as she picked up her purse. "Just… make sure the house is left standing when I get back."

She waited until she heard the car pull out of the driveway before bounding down the stairs and launched herself at Xander, laughing as he caught her and spun her around. Lucky for her he had sense enough to stop before she got all dizzy and emptied her lunch on his sneakers, but it was all good fun nonetheless. With Operation: Date now officially begun she pulled Xan into the living room and they got started watching the movies while snacking from the bowls on the table in front of the couch. She decided she'd start her covert seduction by sitting platonically next to him on the couch but, as the movie one became movie number two, she inched closer. Before long she was cuddled up right next to him, enjoying the feeling along with the body heat while her mind imagined it being husband and wife.

It was then that she looked down and saw the ring on his finger and recalled the talk she'd overheard her sister have with Willow and Giles about it. It'd jumped onto his finger while he was working on the job and now it wouldn't come off no matter what anybody tried, short of cutting off the finger, taking the ring off and then surgically reattaching it. From what she'd overheard, Giles was looking into the matter through his various contacts but that it'd be a while before anything substantial came back to him. To her, though, it didn't look like much, just a band of green metal with an odd lantern symbol stamped into it, but she guessed you couldn't judge a book by its cover.

 _I wonder what it's made of…_ she thought before she reached out and touched the center of the lantern symbol.

For a moment she was surprised when the symbol seemed to glow a tiny bit in response to her touch but, before she could tell Xander about it, an unidentifiable yet overwhelming sensation shot through her body like no one's business. At the same time she felt as though something was being drained out of her to someplace else and this made her afraid in a way she couldn't recall ever being before. As her field of vision panned to the ceiling a green light fell across it like a wave until everything became a shade of green varying from almost white green to almost dark enough to be black green.

The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was Xander, completely covered in some weird kind of energy field, passing through the ceiling like he was some kind of ghost.

 _ **Just Outside Earth's Atmosphere, Five Minutes Later, Xander's POV**_

"AAAAHHHHH!" he screamed as he continued to be pulled into space, OUTER FREAKING SPACE, by the ring on his right hand's middle finger.

If he weren't so completely freaking out, he'd notice the fact that since he was in outer space he shouldn't be able to breathe, much less hear himself screaming at the top of his lungs like Buffy that time she saw the mouse (though she still swore that it was a rat) in the house. Indeed, he should be slowly freezing solid as his lungs popped and the Grim Reaper came calling, but instead he was perfectly fine except for the fact that, you know, he was in space. Had he been more coherent he'd probably also figure out that, given how difficult it'd be not to notice a human being encased in bright green energy, he'd probably gotten the attention of every major organization with satellites capable of spotting him. That'd probably lead to some searching and some questioning when he got back but at the moment it was the furthest issue from his mind.

It wasn't until he passed Pluto that he'd screamed himself so hoarse that he quieted down and, as luck would have it, that was conducive to nurturing coherent thought. Naturally, though, this was when the universe decided to throw him a curveball in the form of a vortex growing out of nowhere, like it'd been a seed one moment then blossomed into a giant flower right before his eyes. In seconds he was flying into it and found himself in some kind of tunnel that zigged and zagged at random moments but never once did he accidentally slam into the walls of the tunnel. He suspected that that had more to do with the ring controlling every aspect of his unscheduled flight rather than dumb luck or something like it. He kind of wondered why the entryway to the tunnel hadn't been secured somehow by one of the Earth's governments, or at least have some kind of monitoring satellite, but then he realized that if it could grow than it could shrink as well. That meant that maybe it'd been too small to detect, or even if someone did know about it that person didn't consider it significant enough to be worth keeping tabs on it.

He figured that'd change now that he'd showed any satellite aimed in the right direction that the vortex could be enlarged and used for travel.

He didn't know how long he kept flying through the tunnel but then without warning an opening back to what could be considered 'normal space' opened up and the ring took him through it. He found himself in a star system he didn't recognize and the ring seemed to be taking him towards a seriously green planet with bits of white, presumably clouds, dotting random spots. It wasn't until he got closer, though, he noticed that there seemed to be objects in orbit around the planet but he was too far away at the moment to make out what the objects were. Another in a long line of surprises happened when some kind of holographic screen popped up in front of his face before a portion of it zoomed in on the objects, making it clear as day that it was wreckage of some kind. Most of the bits and pieces made it impossible to tell what the original whole construct was but some he could safely say were sections of spacecraft. Granted, this was by consulting his extensive knowledge of sci-fi movies, games and comic books rather than anything a scientist would trust but he still felt confident of his theory. The zoomed in area of the screen seemed to follow where his eyes looked so rather than question this, he used it to survey the orbital rings of wreckage.

Everything looked quite ancient and he imagined that the only thing that kept it all in as good a condition as it was would be the vacuum of space. If all these ships had been on a planet, the environment would wear it down to almost nothing. Once he got close enough the screen went away, probably because he didn't need it anymore, and had to look with only his eyes as the ring dragged him through the wreckage. From what little he could see there had definitely been a battle but it seemed to either come up from the planet or down to the surface. A little strange since you'd think that any group with space-borne enemies would have space flight capabilities of their own but it could mean that this planet's defense fleet had been lured away. In any case, the ring was soon taking him away from the orbital wreckage and down to the planet's surface, with the atmospheric friction causing flames to lick the outside of the energy field he had around him.

Once he got past that and the basic cloud cover, though, he beheld a sight that made him think that the battle had been a lot more lopsided than he'd thought. Everywhere he looked there were craters that would look right at home in a film involving orbital bombardment and the few places that didn't have craters had ruins that might have once been cities or factories. As the flight path went horizontal and parallel, he wondered what type of people had lived there and what they'd done to deserve being blasted straight to hell. Were they seriously bad war criminals or space mafia bosses? Had they just ticked off the wrong warlord? Whatever the case, he decided to send up a silent prayer to whoever had lived there, hoping at the very least that their deaths had been quick and painless.

Directing his gaze to the direction the ring was taking him, he tried to spot anything that looked like a possible destination point, either by the size of the city, the remaining structures still moderately standing, or something impressive looking.

He never expected to see what came up over the horizon; a giant, like bigger than any building he'd ever laid eyes on, lantern that looked to be made of the same material as the ring but without the energy or the glow. He didn't think it'd been placed there recently and, judging by the way some debris was leaning up against the lantern, it'd definitely be unusual for someone to put the thing down and then arrange the debris to make it look like it'd always been there. After a few more minutes of flight he was certain that the Statue of Liberty-sized lantern was the destination of where the ring was going but he didn't really have an idea why. The thing looked dead and, even assuming it once had a fire inside of it, what the hell was he supposed to do about it?

As he felt himself decelerate, the ring finally brought him to a stop facing the central opening that'd lead into the structure's interior. For a moment nothing happened, then, without any thought on his part, the ring raised his hand and pointed itself at the interior of the giant lantern, emitting what looked like some kind of scanning beam. It panned over every surface in range before focusing on one point inside the lantern itself.

"SCAN OF CENTRAL POWER BATTERY COMPLETE. BATTERY HAS BEEN OFFLINE FOR NINE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO YEARS," chirped an electronic, synthesized voice from the ring on his finger. "SCANS INCONSISTENT WITH RECORDED HISTORY. CURRENT DATA INSUFFICIENT FOR CONCLUSIVE SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS. COMMENCING REIGNITION PROTOCOLS."

With not even half a second delay green energy erupted from the ring and shot into the giant lantern with enough intensity that he had to close his eyes and look away or risk going blind. While he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it, he seriously hoped that whatever kind of mind the ring had that it would at least leave enough energy behind so he didn't die. The odds of this planet having an atmosphere that was compatible with humans was slim and, even if by some chance he could breathe, food would be a problem along with, oh, his burning desire to GO HOME. He got his answer a moment later when, with a discharge of light, energy and heat that came from the giant lantern actually pushed him back two dozen feet before the ring righted him and began approaching the now-lit lantern. It was an awesome thing to behold because it didn't look like the flickering flame you'd see in a fireplace, but rather like there was a decent sized light bulb in the center but it was surrounded by green goop from a lava lamp. By decent sized he meant that it was big enough that only the Hulk or the Thing would be able to pick it up off the ground, of course.

It was only a few minutes before something else came from the center of the lit lantern but it was hard to make out with the glaring light behind it. Only when the 'something' got far enough from the center of the lantern that the light was no longer an issue but he wasn't sure if it was necessarily a good thing or not.

It was a woman, mid-to-late twenties in age, wearing a dress that had billowing sleeves and a symbol that was almost identical to what was on the ring burning like hot coals on the front. She wasn't alive in the normal sense of the word because she was made up of the same energy that now thrummed inside the giant lantern but had enough detail that it would only take some diverse color to make her look real. With long, wavy hair falling down the sides and back of her head, she looked rather beautiful from his point of view but there was one truth that had him keeping his mouth shut.

Non-human women were almost universally bad news for him.

"Primary systems online. The Central Power Battery has been restored," the woman said, sounding like a soldier vocalizing her appraisal of the situation. "Running diagnostics on all systems and connected networks. Planetary network inaccessible. City network inaccessible. Orbital network inaccessible. Central Power Battery systems all green. Planetary scans consistent with last recorded readings before shut down."

 _Good workmanship if it's still running perfectly even after all this time,_ he thought as he waited to be acknowledged or sent home. _So is that why the ring brought me here? To give this thing a jump start?_

It was as he thought this that the glowing eyes of the woman finally registered and focused on him with almost appraising eyes. However it was when those eyes focused on the ring he had around his right middle finger that he knew he'd finally come up as a topic of discussion.

"Welcome to Oa, Lantern Prime. I am Lianna, artificial intelligence in charge of the Central Power Battery and Oan systems and the legacy of the Guardians of the Universe," Lianna said before executing a formal bow of respect. "I realize that you have questions but when your ring interfaced with the Central Power Battery, I detected a great deal of data stored within it. It is under Maltus level encryption and that is only done with information of vital importance. I need to access it."

 _Great! Not only am I yanked across the galaxy to jump start a big ass lantern but I'm also carrying top secret files._ "How long will it take?"

"Not long. I am one of the few beings with security clearance high enough to decrypt and download the files," she replied before nodding towards the ring. "May I?"

It took him less than a minute to come to a decision and nod with permission.

Whatever was in the ring or connected to it, Lianna obviously wanted it and right now he couldn't think of a single way for him to deny her if she chose to get aggressive about it. Plus, he figured that if he proved co-operative then it might improve his chances of getting back home in one piece. A happy energy lady was a generous energy lady.

In the blink of an eye a beam of energy connected the A.I. to the ring and he watched as steady pulses were pulled from the ring, travelled along the connection until they disappeared into Lianna's body. This went on for a little over a minute before the connection shut down and the glow left the lady program's eyes, only to be replaced with a look that mirrored… sadness.

"It seems that the situation is more complex than I'd originally thought," Lianna said, sadness seeping into her voice. "I had thought that you were the Lantern Prime of this reality come at last to fulfill the prophecy of my maker at long last. That is not the case."

"What prophecy?" he asked while mentally cursing in every language he knew and even inventing a few on the fly.

Nothing good ever came from prophecies.

"To understand the prophecy you must first understand the origin of the Guardians and how they met their end almost ten thousand years ago," Lianna replied before a hologram sprung from the big battery showing a planet different from the one he was on now. "It all began on the planet Maltus, back when the universe was still young, inhabited by tall grayish blue humanoids with black hair. To their knowledge they were the first species anywhere to achieve sentience and their level of advancement was quite high. One day a group of them came upon a rare organism, a symbiote, which bonded with them, granting them abilities that many would consider god-like. Immortality, increased intelligence, cosmic awareness and dimensional manipulation just being a few of the things they gained.

"They became scientists and thinkers, experimenting with the new opportunities that'd been opened up to them. In some cases it led to the creation of entirely new species, among other things. However one of their number, Krona, broke a taboo that threatened all that existed. He was apprehended but not before he changed reality in ways that could not be undone. Think of it as condemning an entire region of space to a condition they never should have had and that this condition would harm them until the end of time," Lianna said as images of laboratories and a specific man's face appeared before him. "Seeing for the first time how fragile the universe was they relocated to this planet, the planet Oa, and became the Guardians of the Universe. Their goal was a simple one: to combat evil in an effort to create an orderly universe."

"They decided to police space," he said, comprehending what the A.I. was saying.

"That was indeed their intent however such a venture required the consent of the major powers of the galaxy so that their authority would be respected. If they attempted to act without the consent of these other powers they risked alienating, if not outright provoking war with these powers. For the most part their proposition of creating an intergalactic police force was met with approval however there were some who were suspicious of the Guardians intentions. Others were too prideful, believing that they didn't need help from outsiders to keep their own people safe," Lianna said as a look of recall crossed her face. "In the end it was decided a demonstration was needed in order to prove that they could do what they claimed. With this objective in mind they went to work to create five examples of the law enforcement officers that would patrol the space ways but first they needed to create a weapon for their officers to use to bring order to the galaxy.

"First they sought out a source of power and found what was called 'The Glow' but was later called the emotional electromagnetic spectrum. They determined that certain emotions generated energy and would be able to provide their officers with the power to oppose entire fleets of warships if necessary. Red rage, orange avarice, yellow fear, green will, blue hope, indigo compassion, violet love, black death and white life," Lianna said as circles with different symbols in them appeared one after another. "The Guardians eventually chose the green energy of will as the source of power for their officers of law and order since it had the least amount of influence on the wielder and can only be controlled by one who has an indomitable will capable of overcoming great fear. They harnessed this energy and placed it into the Central Power Battery, where it would continually replenish itself for all of eternity.

"Next came creating a weapon to channel this energy effectively and they chose to shape it into the form of a ring. This ring would allow them to fire blasts of energy, create energy based constructs, fly and a great many other things. Basically what the ring could do was limited only by the wearer's imagination, the maximum energy storage capacity of the ring, the need to recharge it every twenty-four of your hours, and the yellow impurity, which rendered the green energy useless against the color yellow," Lianna said, showing rings like his as well as examples of how they could be used. "It was determined that only five should be created at first and that they should be given to those that fit the criteria of what an officer of their new Corps of law enforcers should be like. It didn't take long to find these people and train them in the basic applications of their ring. Once that was done they merely waited for an appropriate situation to present itself so they could showcase how effective their officers could be in resolving a situation efficiently. They didn't have to wait long.

"Within two weeks of the conclusion of training of the five newly trained officers, one of the more aggressive space-faring species launched an unprovoked attack on a colony belonging to another race. The victims had few weapons at their disposal and only civilian defense system in place to protect themselves. They were not expected to last long against the aggressors," Lianna said as another world was projected for him to see. "The five newly trained officers were ordered in to disable the attacking spacecraft and subdue any ground forces attacking the colonists. Naturally lethal force was only to be used as a last resort since it would go against the principles of the Guardians to so readily take a life. It was a fierce battle, one of the officers lost his life, but the attacking force was defeated and the colony saved.

"It had been the hope of the Guardians that this demonstration of power and compassion would be enough to convince the major powers of how much good their law enforcers could be. Instead it had the opposite effect and caused all but one of them to declare the Guardians and their officers threats to their sovereignty," Lianna said with sadness as the projected images changed to show Oa. "A multi-empire task force was dispatched to Oa with orders to kill the Guardians, their officers and to seize the Central Power Battery. Most likely while they were impressed with how useful it could be, they thought it would be better off in their hands to use as they pleased. We defended this world and the Central Power Battery so bravely but we were overwhelmed and so our allies dropped one by one.

"The assault lasted for a full week before the last of our defenses fell but it was not a wasted effort. During those final days one of the wisest Guardians, Ganthet, had a vision of the future that made it easier for them to accept their fall. A vision of you," Lianna said before the image of a man dressed in clothes similar to her own appeared. "He left you this message."

"I greet you, Alexander Harris. I know from my vision that you rather loath the very idea of predestination as you are a firm believer of free will," Ganthet said with earnest drive. "However, I plead of you, to hear this, the final will, not only of me, but of the Oan Race, the Guardians of the Universe. I know that you see yourself in a lower measure, and that your life hasn't been an ideal one, but you have seen evil in most of its forms, not only the evil beyond the barriers of this dimension, but the evil of your own race, and the evil in your heart and those of your comrades, and held the will to overcome your fears, and through it, that same evil.

"Even as I and my brethren face our final hour, I have hope that our efforts will not have been for nothing. In my vision, a vision of a future so far ahead of our time that we are less than dust, I see a spark appear in the darkness for the first time. Then another spark, and another, until it is as if there are thousands of green flames pushing back the darkness," Ganthet said with a look of true belief on his face. "It is as the last green flame pops into existence a face is revealed. Your face."

A head is projected next to Ganthet's form and, in the mother of all shocks, it was the face of someone who looked like he probably would ten or so years down the road.

"The vision went on and I heard a voice speaking an oath that my brothers and sisters had been considering making the official one of our law officers. A promise, a mission statement, something that would make it clear to all what the Corps stood for," Ganthet said before a serious look came over his face. "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

With that the lantern symbol on Ganthet's chest glowed with greater and greater intensity until he vanished all together, telling him that that was the end of the message.

"When the defenses fell, all but Ganthet threw themselves at the invading forces to buy him time to shut down the Central Power Battery as well as entrust his message to me. The last conscious memory I have is of Ganthet smiling sadly at me before pressing the final button to initiate the shutdown sequence," Lianna said with such emotion it made him wonder just how sophisticated the A.I. really was. "I have waited a long time for you."

"Um, sorry to… keep you waiting," he said, feeling more than a little uncertain about how to handle all this. "What exactly is it you want me to do? I mean, I get you and the Guardians were trying to do but… prophecy or no prophecy, I have never done anything like this in my entire life. I'd have no idea what I was doing beyond the absolute basics. I could just as easily screw up and ruin everything."

"As could any other candidate that was chosen for the task of continuing my creator's work. No one has seen, much less experienced, this power in almost ten thousand years," Lianna said honestly as she looked him in the eye. "And if not you, then who? I am bound to this planet and cannot leave. The most I could do would be to cast your ring to the stars in the hopes of finding a replacement once you have been safely returned to your home world. However the only criteria that the rings are programmed to seek out is an ability to overcome great fear and to possess no mental instabilities or propensity for unbridled rage. There is nothing to determine whether a potential recruit possesses leadership qualities or the knowledge needed to create an intergalactic police force. From that point of view, you are as good a potential founder as anyone else I might find."

 _Well, isn't that a boost to the old ego!_ he thought, managing to keep from rolling his eyes. _I'm just as good as any other schmuck in the galaxy!_

"Consider this, Alexander Harris: you have been presented with the opportunity to do something with your life that few sentient beings ever do. You have a chance to create something that will change the universe for the better," Lianna said in as compelling a voice as possible. "With the Corps you could create, you will be able to fight against the darkness you have dedicated yourself to opposing as a wave of light rather than a lone candle flickering in the wind. Indeed, if you should take anything from the origins of the Guardians, it is that great things can be born from the most humble of beginnings. All you need to do is believe in yourself."

Even with all those impressive words he couldn't help but doubt whether or not he could actually do what Lianna was asking of him. Even with all the progress he'd made since those first days fighting alongside Buffy, his father's words still echoed in his head, telling him how worthless he was and, while he fought to prove otherwise, HIS voice persisted. However it was as he thought about this that he remembered the declaration he'd made at the end of the whole Dracula mess: he was through being the universe's butt-monkey. He was through being the weak link of the Scoobies, the one that needed saving, and he'd committed himself to making himself into something, someone, better. It'd worked out a bit as he managed to hold down a decent job with a local construction company but now… now he was being asked to build something much bigger, with much farther reaching effects than he'd ever imagined possible. Maybe this was his chance to do something that'd finally get him out from under his father's thumb and prove once and for all that he was not the waste of space his father said he was.

All he needed to do was take a deep breath and step up to the plate.

"Where do we begin?" he asked, unsure if he'd just made the biggest mistake of his life or the best choice he ever had.

The smile on Lianna's face made it clear which one it was and made him return the smile.

"With this," she replied before a hum began to build up in the Central Power Battery along with an inner glow.

Then, without any warning, a wave of energy exploded up into the sky until it was almost out of sight before expanding out to the sides, covering the sky in a blanket of emerald energy as far as his eyes could see.

 _Well, this looks ominous._


	2. Be It Ever So HumbleRight?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. Therefore it would be greatly appreciated if no legal action were taken against me. I can promise you that even if you took everything I had it wouldn't cover even a fifth of your legal fees.

 _ **Five Months Later, Sector 0000**_

If anyone had been paying attention to this sector of space within the last five months, they would've noticed an intense sphere of energy encircling one of the planets in this system.

If they had looked even closer, they would have noticed that things were happening beneath the semi-transparent sphere at a dizzying pace. It bore a resemblance to those videos that showed the growth of a flower at an accelerated rate of speed, showing the passage of days, if not weeks, in a matter of seconds. Ruined cities on the surface were being rebuilt, roads were being repaired and devices of unknown purpose appeared hovering in mid-air all over the planet.

Only through careful observation and perhaps the drastically slowing down of video footage along with some digital enhancement would a possible reason for this revealed.

A mass of energy roughly the same size as a human being could be seen zipping around from place to place and wherever it went, damage that'd existed for centuries was reversed in its entirety. There were other things that the humanoid mass did that was centered more on destruction rather than construction or restoration, but there was definitely more fixing being done than smashing.

Then, when the five months were over and done with, the sphere of energy surrounding the planet vanished to reveal a sophisticated world covered with cities composed of technology not seen in almost ten thousand years. Centered around a giant green lantern in the largest city on the planet it was vacant save for the humanoid mass of energy and an artificial intelligence that hadn't been active for ten thousand years. For a few minutes after the energy sphere disappeared nothing happened but then, with unrivalled speed, the humanoid mass of energy shot into space. If someone had been close enough they would have discovered that the humanoid was not completely made of energy but rather was a human being from the planet Earth wrapped in a skintight energy field. Clad in a costume of black, green and white, with a mask covering the entire upper half of his face, it would be hard for someone to match this young man against the ID photos of his world.

Yet at the same time they would come to know of him and what he was capable of soon.

The entire galaxy and its varied inhabitants would know soon enough.

 _ **Sector 2814, Earth, North America, California, Sunnydale**_

 _ **Morning, Summers Home, Joyce's POV**_

 _I think it might be time to pay another visit to the hospital,_ she thought as she walked towards the living room from the kitchen. _I'm starting to feel pretty bad._

Which was odd, of course, because ever since the operation had been completed she'd felt right as rain and well on the road to recovery. Now… now it felt like a fog was settling over her mind and it was getting heavier by the moment. She'd been doing some work in the kitchen, getting lunch ready, when she'd knocked over a bottle, causing it to crash to the floor. She'd gone to sweep it up when a wave of dizziness had come over her, making it difficult enough to stand back up, but then it receded albeit with some aftershocks echoing through her head. In the end she'd decided to sit down on the couch for a little while until her head cleared up and she felt more like herself. Now, as she entered the living room proper, though, the dizziness returned with a vengeance, making her struggle just to stay on her feet never mind make it to the couch.

 _Got… got to get to the… phone…_ she thought as she used anything and everything she could to try and get to where the phone next to the couch was.

However no matter how much she struggled, her strength was leaving her by leaps and bounds, causing her limbs to bend when she needed them to be straight. Before she knew what was going on she was on the floor, looking at the ceiling of the living room, unable to muster the strength to do more than breath. It was then that something happened that seriously made her think that the doctors had screwed up her surgery more than she'd originally thought. Like a ghost a person passed through the ceiling, surrounded by a green glow, clad in a skintight outfit made up of black, white and green. She knew it wasn't important but she couldn't help but notice that whoever it was must've spent a lot of time in the gym because she doubted that there was even an ounce of fat on the man. It was only when the head became visible that she found that there was something oddly familiar about the man but she couldn't quite place it with the mask covering half his face. In the end it didn't matter who he was or if he was a figment of her imagination because she had the same fear that many people had of dying alone.

"Joyce! Joyce, what's wrong!?" the man asked and in an instant she recognized the voice as someone no one had seen for five months.

She wanted to say something, even if it was only Xander's name, but her strength was leaving her fast and her vision was beginning to blur. Without warning a bright green light began to fill her sight, going from strong to weak, but only making it harder to see the room around her. It was then that her vision became a secondary concern as breathing became harder than it had been a minute ago, with the level of difficulty rising by the second. In a moment of clarity she knew she was going to die and that she was going to leave both her little girls behind, causing a pain to rise within her like she'd only experienced a few times before. She loved Buffy and Dawn more than anything in the entire world, so the very thought of leaving them behind caused her great emotional distress. Sadly, no matter how much her spirit might wish to stay, her body wasn't willing to obey that spirit and so life continued to drain from her like a gas tank with a quarter sized hole in it.

"Don't worry, Joyce; all will be well." Xander's voice said even though she could no longer see him.

 _As far as things to say before someone dies, I've heard worse,_ she thought with a bit of black humor.

Then something happened that she had not expected in the least.

Strength actually began to RETURN to her body.

As her mind began to clear she began to notice a feeling of something coursing through her body and then her eyesight began to clear up. The feeling was strongest, though, in her brain as all the ill effects she'd been feeling for the last hour or two began to vanish like they'd never existed in the first place. It was then that she was able to see Xander clearly but what she saw made her think that her eyesight had been worse than she'd thought before because she'd gotten the colors wrong by one. Instead of black, white and green like she'd originally thought she'd seen the green was now somehow a dark shade of blue. Whatever the color, whatever was going on, she counted it as a good things since she was feeling better by the moment.

When the blue light Xander was somehow putting out stopped, she found out that her original assessment of the costume's color scheme proved accurate since before her eyes the blue parts turned to the shade of green they'd been the first time. However the surprise didn't stop there because, once Xander stood up and away from her, a line of light panned up the mid-twenties Xander, changing the costume he was wearing to the clothes he'd been wearing when last she'd seen him. They were a bit tighter in spots, no doubt the result of whatever training had given him all the muscles she'd seen, but it still seemed to fit him more or less.

"There. You should still probably get a check up from a doc at the hospital but I'm pretty sure I took care of most of the problems," Xander said with a lopsided smile she hadn't seen in months. "I'm still something of a beginner at the whole healing bit."

"How did you…?" she asked before taking a moment to marvel at how good she felt and how no lingering side effects remained of her little episode.

"It's something of long story," he replied, scratching the back of his head a bit.

"How long?" she asked, sensing something important being danced around.

"About five years long if you want the entire story, or an hour or so for the cliff notes version," he replied honestly though she could tell he was kind of hoping she'd just drop it.

Too bad for him she'd learned the hard way ever since the end of Buffy's second year at Sunnydale High that being ignorant was a quick way to wind up dead.

"Let's go with the cliff notes version and I'll ask for details if I don't understand something," she said, hoping that what he had to say could help clear up what happened to Dawn when he'd disappeared five months ago.

For the next forty-five minutes she was told of an almost unbelievable story of an alien planet at the center of the galaxy, of the remains of a peacekeeping and law enforcement organization, of Xander's coming being written into prophecy and of his newfound duty to finish what these 'Guardians of the Universe' had begun so many years ago. It probably would've been unbelievable before Buffy had come out as the Slayer but now it was just… mind bogglingly surprising. Still, it would explain what happened to Dawn and a part of her couldn't help but grin on the inside as it occurred to her that she had a chance to seriously surprise Xander in return.

She'd just have to keep him in the house for another hour and fifteen minutes, since that'd be roughly when both her daughters would be back from their latest journey into cosmetic experimentation. It'd been necessary given the state that Buffy had found Dawn in that night five months ago and it wasn't the only change that the Summers family had been forced to make. Things had been hectic and turbulent like never before but her family was a strong one and, even though she didn't have a lot of information on them, she knew that her two nephews were survivors as well. However, if what Xander had just told her was right, she was now healthy as a horse and no longer in danger of a relapse, but just the same she'd take his advice and schedule another appointment with her doctor. This time she'd make sure that they looked extra hard to make sure there weren't any other surprises waiting for her down the road because she'd be DAMNED if she died due to some hospital screw up.

Not when she had so much to live for.

Once the man in his prime finished regaling her with everything he'd been up to in outer space, she decided to reciprocate by telling him what'd been going on since he'd flown off.

Minus the surprise she wanted to spring on him, of course.

By the time she was done Fate decided to make it all the better by making it the same time that her two daughters walked in the front door. Not saying a word, she watched as the two gabbing girls came into view and their eyes locked onto the newly returned Xander at the exact same time his fell on them. The surprise, the shock and the attempts at comprehending what their eyes were telling them almost made it impossible for her to keep from breaking out laughing but she managed to keep it to a very amused grin.

"XANDER!" Dawn yelled with glee before she dropped her bags and tackled her former babysitter, managing to take him to the ground with the move before showering his face with kisses.

Normally this wouldn't have happened since every time her youngest had done this before, whether the young man had been ready or not, he'd managed to stay on his feet.

However things had changed.

"Dawn… you're… you're… GREEN!" Xander managed to get out of his mouth as his eyes kept panning up and down his tackler's form, or what he could see of it.

"Yep! Green and HOT!" Dawn said before getting off of him and showing off a body that most definitely didn't belong to a thirteen year old.

No, it was a body that was a closer match to an eighteen year old who engaged in an athlete's level of exercise and had gotten blessed with all the best physical attributes the Summers bloodline had to offer.

"I… think I'm gonna need an… explanation here," Xander said, trying not to look at certain developed areas of Dawn's body.

 _Yep! This was definitely worth keeping him in the dark for the last two hours,_ she thought as her grin morphed into a smile.

 _ **Xander's POV**_

"Well, basically you know how it started: I touched your ring and things went Hellmouthy," Dawn said, sitting in the chair closest to where he was sitting down. "What you don't know and I didn't know until later was that, after you flew off, the Hellmouth stuff just kept happening. Buffy arrived home after patrolling and found a decidedly older me lying on the ground unconscious, with my clothes in less than stellar condition. Guess that means I was a little too BIG in some places for them."

The fact that she tried and failed to subtley show off her decidedly developed bosom made him all the more eager for things to move along.

Before Buffy decided to see if she could castrate him before he could move.

"Yeah. Big butt and a big head and all of it green," Buffy said after giving Dawn a glare to stop flaunting what she lacked. "Green hair, green eyes and green skin. EVERYTHING green. Naturally I called Mom, then called Giles, since it's not natural for someone to age five years and become the Jolly Green Giant's daughter in the space of a few hours unless it's Hellmouthy."

Point.

It'd definitely be the first conclusion he'd have come to if he'd come in the door to find Dawn… different.

"He came over and gave her a once over. Even brought his magic kit with a dozen or so spell possibilities. Didn't take him long to find some weird mojo in the air and on Dawn but the only thing he could tell at first was that it was a lot like what was bouncing around your old work site," Buffy said, turning her gaze back to him. "It wasn't until Dawn accidentally showed off a new 'talent' of hers that we figured out we had another problem to deal with."

"'Talent'?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer he'd get.

With a smug smile on her face Dawn extended her right hand, palm facing him, showing off a weird looking birthmark in the shape of a star. However it didn't end there because a green miasma of energy emerged from the hand, flowing outward like water going through a series of rivers and tributaries no one could see. It was fairly steady up until it began to take on a coherent shape and a minute later he was looking at a green dove connected to Dawn's outstretched hand by a cord of energy. True, it was dove that looked like it'd been made out of clay by a five year old with vision problems, but it was still clear enough for him to identify what it was, if only because it was posed similar to dozens of pictures he'd seen of the bird with an olive branch in its mouth. Looking at Buffy's younger sister, he could see signs of strain on her face and, each time it went up, the image of the dove fluctuated a bit before regaining coherency. Eventually, though, it dissipated and Dawn looked like she'd had a moderate workout.

"At first Giles thought that she'd somehow absorbed an aspect of the ring's power like I did telepathy, but with no reports at all of it happening to anyone else who went where the ring was buried, we had to look deeper," Buffy said before she turned to her mother. "Imagine my surprise when Mom had a thought on that."

Confused, he turned to his friend's mother.

"My family, the Summers family, has in recent years show itself to have a… hereditary feature… that crops up rather often. It skips some members and then out of nowhere hits two in a row," Joyce said, looking as though the topic of discussion wasn't one she spoke of often to those outside the family. "My family… the x-gene is pretty strong in it and I thought that whatever happened to turn Dawn green might've somehow activated it."

X-gene… Dawn was a mutant now?

Contrary to what a lot of people might've told him, his TV viewing habits did extend beyond sci-fi and the occasional cartoon. He'd seen the news broadcasts, read a few of the newspaper articles and you couldn't go an hour sometimes without some kind of talk show discussing 'the mutant problem'. Before Buffy had shown up and revealed the nightlife of Sunnydale, he'd been wary about them but since to his knowledge none lived in Sunnydale, he didn't pay too much attention. After all, you can watch a movie about flesh-eating piranha but it's not really relevant when they don't exist in your little corner of the world. After he'd gotten into the know about vamps and demons, he'd felt like he had more important things to worry about than whether or not some stray mutant might cross his path.

Besides, what would he do even if he did bump into one? Nothing.

With everything he'd been through since rocketing into space, though, it didn't bother him and he doubted it would've bothered him if he'd never found the ring.

Dawn was Dawn and no quirk of genetics or special ability was going to change that.

"It took some doing to check without going to a hospital or some genetics lab but Willow's got serious skills in the hacking department. Managed to get everything we'd need delivered to the Magic Box and had some drug dealer's Cayman Island bank account foot the bill. Totally untraceable," Buffy explained, looking like she'd gotten a kick out of that. "A couple of days later Willow finished the tests and confirmed it. X-gene positive and active. After that though things really got busy because Dawnie couldn't exactly go to school anymore and outside was almost as bad."

No doubt. Tolerance for mutants wasn't exactly at an all-time high in the US and mobs had been known to show up if someone was suspected of being a mutant.

"Giles tried glamors at first but for some reason they wouldn't work on Dawn, so then we went for something a little more basic. Make-up," Joyce said, chipping in on the explanation. "Giles had some experience in the theatre so we started experimenting with different combinations to try to cover up her green skin and make it look as normal as possible. Took us a dozen or so tries and more than a few containers of makeup but eventually we got it well enough that she could go outside without anyone noticing something was off."

"Unless they got too close," Dawn said, correcting her mother.

"Unless they got too close. Since then Buffy and Giles have been trying their best to make everything look more believable and less flawed under scrutiny. With everything that's happened… with me, today had been the first real chance they've had to really go at it," Joyce said, looking like she was still adjusting to being healthy again.

"What happened?" he asked, wanting to know a little more about what he'd managed to heal by tapping into the blue hope portion of the emotional electromagnetic spectrum.

"A brain tumor. It messed with my health and eventually I had to go to the hospital. They did surgery and for the last while everything's been fine… until today." Joyce said, causing both of her daughters to snap their heads in her direction.

"What do you mean 'until today'? What happened?" Buffy asked, looking like she was not going to take dancing around the answer well.

"I think there was a complication, something the doctor's didn't catch in surgery. My mind was hazy, my balance was falling apart and my strength was leaving me. I thought I was going to die," Joyce replied, trying to answer as gently as she could. "Then Xander came back and… healed me."

"Healed you? How?" Dawn asked, looking back and forth between him and her mother.

 _I guess now is as good a time as any,_ he thought as he stood up from the chair. _Just hope Buffy doesn't give into her 'stake first ask questions later' impulse._

With a single thought he willed the uniform he'd first received five years ago when he'd officially agreed to take on the burden that prophecy had seen fit to place on his shoulders. In less than two seconds his normal clothes were replaced with a skintight bodysuit and mask, with white gloves, green boots and a green lantern symbol in the middle of white circle on his chest. Both Summers girls were shocked but to their credit they were made of stern enough stuff to not faint at the sudden shock.

"Since I don't feel like going through the entire story again, I'll just give you the Reader's Digest version. I went to an alien planet where there's apparently a prophecy about me founding an intergalactic peace keeping and law enforcement organization. I saw a chance to finally come into my own, so I took it. I got some upgrades and went through five years of training inside of a time-space bubble, with only five months going by as far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned," he explained, trying to condense everything he'd told Mrs. S even further. "I got out yesterday and decided to come back here to let you guys know I was okay and to make sure the world hadn't gone to hell while I was away. I found your Mom on the ground looking seriously sick and getting worse really fast. So… I used some of my training to heal her. I only know the basics though; I would've been away longer if I wanted the full course, so it'd probably be a good idea for her to let the professionals take a look at her."

Silence filled the room for a while as the Summers girls processed it all but in the end he knew what they'd do.

Accept the important parts and treat the rest as unimportant.

Neither of them liked overly complicated stuff.

"So basically you'll be making a group of space police?" Dawn asked, trying to keep her eyes on his face rather than his body and only partially being successful.

"More like space cops meets United Nations peace keeping force," he replied, trying to convey the concept. "Once everything's up and running there'll be at least two officers per sector of space. We'll do our best to fight the good fight without being too overbearing or telling a species how to run their lives. I suppose you could call us the Avengers of the stars in a way."

"COOL! Can I join?" Dawn asked, looking like she was ready to jump into the experience feet first.

"Sorry, kiddo! Even if you look eighteen I know you're not. While I might be the C.O. of the Green Lantern Corps, I am not letting you slip past the minimum physical AND mental age requirement," he replied with a shake of his head. "Apply again in five years and I'll think about it."

"Awwww!" Dawn said, sounding more like her thirteen year old self rather than the college student she appeared to be.

He was being honest with her when he said that.

If she still wanted to join the Corps in five years, he'd summon a ring to Earth and see if she passed the basics.

Considering the crude energy construct she'd managed to produce with her newfound power, he figured it was safe to say that with some training she'd pass with flying colors.

"Then I guess it's a good thing I know you," Dawn said, recovering from her disappointment and suddenly looking quite mischievous. "With some PERSONAL training from you with my own power, I'll be able to ace the entrance exam in five years."

Back when she was just thirteen years old he could shrug off the 'girl with a crush' looks she sent his way as nothing because he knew it wouldn't develop into anything. Not only was she not physically developed enough to gain his interest but, unlike Angel, he had no desire to enter into a romantic relationship with someone much younger than he was. Plus there was the fact that he was pretty sure between Buffy and Joyce, he'd wind up castrated as well as decapitated if he ever reciprocated Dawn's feelings.

"DAWN!" Buffy exclaimed, clearly upset by her sister's statement.

"Young lady, we talked about this. While you might be physically at the age of consent, you're still thirteen in the head and I am not letting you get into something you're not ready for." Joyce said in the tone all children became familiar with when they tested the limits of what they could do.

"FINE!" Dawn growled before getting up from her seat, walking over to the bags she'd dropped, picked them up and went upstairs before slamming the door to her room.

"Nice to see some things don't change," he said with a smile, remembering past times when the youngest Summers did the exact same thing when she didn't get what she wanted.

"So what do you plan on doing now that you're back?" Buffy asked with a smile as he shifted back to his normal clothes. "I'm pretty sure you don't have a job anymore but we've managed to keep your apartment. Rent was cheap enough we could afford it. Just in case you came back."

"Thanks. Don't worry about money. Thanks to being able to fly through space I can mine asteroids for precious metals and minerals," he said with a smile at the thought of not having to find a new place to live or a way to replace his stuff. "I get what I need and then drag it back to Earth before selling it off. After all, it's not like anyone owns the asteroid belt here or in a few other sectors I know about."

This, of course, lit up Buffy's eyes with the possibility of having a friend flush with cash.

"Yes, I am willing to send some of it your way once I get enough stashed away," he said, figuring that he'd have enough in the end that he could fund a few mall trips. "Just give me some time. My schedule is going to be pretty filled up for the next little while. I'll keep in touch via cell phone and let you know when I'll be off world."

"Can't you stay a while?" Buffy asked, sounding a little upset at him leaving so soon after coming. "You just got back."

"I'll stay a week but after that I'll need to get going," he replied with honesty in his voice. "The Corps isn't going to build itself and this is one thing I want to do right from the very beginning."

It was the truth.

He was starting down a path that could take him places he'd never been before and he didn't want it to end with him screwing up somehow.

He was going to take this as seriously as the promise he made over Jesse's grave because to him this was merely moving his efforts onto a much larger stage. He'd still fight and slay vamps as well as demons wherever he came across them but he would also fight against the forces of darkness in whatever form they took. Demons weren't the only source of evil in existence and to limit himself to just them when he had the ability to do more would make him guilty for every innocent that'd come to harm because he wasn't there to save them. Even once the Green Lantern Corps was fully formed with two members in every sector, he would still be Lantern Prime, the leader of the entire Corps, along with all the duties and responsibilities that entailed.

Still, he didn't see anything wrong with hanging with his friends before he got down to business.

"Sounds like a plan! Let me call Willow and Giles and get them over here," Buffy said, sounding enthused. "I can't WAIT until they see you! They're gonna absolutely FLIP!"

He had to agree with that and he made a mental note to be ready to create a construct of a nice soft mattress behind Willow because he had a feeling she'd faint first and hug him after she regained consciousness.

Or faint four or five times and then hug him.

 _That's my Willow,_ he thought with a grin on his face.

 _ **A Few Days Later, Flying Over Sunnydale, Evening, Xander's POV**_

 _So some psycho hell-goddess from another dimension is hunting Dawnie,_ he thought as he continued to invisibly fly over the town, scanning each building for anyone matching Glory's description. _Time to tell her that her hunting license has been revoked, along with just about every other license she might have._

It'd been more than a little worrying to find out that something had come to the Hellmouth that Buffy couldn't outfight or slice to pieces, but he thanked whatever god or goddess might've been looking over the Summers family, as well as the Scoobies, that nothing big had happened. It'd been one of his biggest concerns when Lianna had wanted him to stay on Oa for training that something might happen while he was away. Even with the time-space field, he was worried, so he'd haggled her down from ten years of training down to just five. When he'd arrived in the Summers home a few days ago he was supremely glad that he had otherwise he'd likely have arrived just in time for Mrs. S' funeral. Now, though, he had to deal with the current Big Bad who apparently looked like a twenty-something woman from the cover of MAXIM but was nuttier than a fruit cake and who liked brain tartare for her meals.

The fact that she was supposedly a god worried him a bit but he was fairly certain that, so long as he took her down hard and fast before she could fight back, it'd be a done deal.

 _Worse comes to worse, I'll shoot her into the sun,_ he thought as continued his search. _No demon, human, superhuman or God can survive being plunged into that thing. It's the ultimate incinerator._

It was just as he reached what looked to be a fancy apartment building that he looked like he'd finally gotten a lock on his target. From what he could make out of the ring's readings there was definitely some extra-dimensional energy coming from a humanoid inside the building's top floor, along with a roach infestation of demons he couldn't identify. Just to be on the safe side he had the ring run a comparison between the obvious minions and every humanoid alien race on record in order to ensure that they really were demons. Fortunately, thanks to trans-light speeds and the excellent memory capacity of the ring itself, he had his answer inside of five minutes, confirming that no one in the apartment was an alien and that meant demon.

Debating his options, he scanned the rest of the building to see if there were any humans or non-combatants in Glory's immediate vicinity, but sadly there were none; either this meant that the place had always been vacant or that the hell-bitch had 'disposed' of them after picking their brains for a meal. Still, it did mean that he didn't have to go in with kid gloves since, as long as nothing was thrown too far, no innocent bystanders would get hurt.

So the question became: approach politely or drop the hammer?

"Stop! Hammer time!" he yelled as he willed a giant hammer construct into existence before slamming it down on Glory's apartment building, flattening it to the ground.

Almost literally, even though a few of the corner support beams remained upright.

A follow up scan confirmed that all of the minions had effectively been crushed in the attack and were no longer humanoid shaped, much less a threat to him. Glory, on the other hand, was still in one piece and, from what he could tell, was working her way out of the rubble, with her moves making him think she wasn't injured in the slightest. Considering his blow was strong enough to shatter concrete and bend steel until it broke, that meant she was VERY sturdy indeed and that any chance of a quick resolution to the situation was gone.

Noticing a shift in the rubble, he looked down and saw a pretty looking blonde in a torn red dress emerge moving like she was in a VERY bad mood. He'd learned to identify women in bad moods early on in life and had only gotten better once puberty hit. True, he was at best batting sixty to sixty-five percent accuracy but it'd helped him avoid some very nasty situations, so he'd trust what he saw at the moment. Dropping his invisibility, he descended until he was thirty feet above the psycho before hovering and waiting for her to realize he was there.

It didn't take long.

"Do you know what you've done!?" she yelled at him, sounding like an irate businesswoman. "Do you know how hard it's going to be to replace those minions and, more importantly, MY WARDROBE!?"

"Well, as far as minions are concerned they're a dime a dozen," he said conversationally as he crossed his arms over his chest. "On the matter of your wardrobe, I doubt you actually paid for any of it so you don't deserve it. Now normally this'd be the point where I tell you to go back to whatever hell dimension you're from but I hear that's a problem for you."

"Not really. All I need is my Key and I'll be able to go home, no problem," Glory said, deciding to follow his lead. "Don't suppose you know where it is?"

"I might have a clue but you're not getting it," he replied, not considering telling her about Dawn. "Still, there might be an option two. Stand still."

Now he knew that most of the Scoobies would prefer that he just slay Glory and be done with it but a battle would take time as well as rack up quite a bit of collateral damage. If his plan B worked, though, the issue would be resolved without any unnecessary muss or fuss.

"Ring. Scan subject. Determine quantum frequency of subject and display dimension of origin."

He didn't have to say anything, technically, as when it came to his power ring he could literally just think or will something to happen and it'd happen but he figured it might make Glorificus less likely to reduce the area to rubble if she knew what he was doing. A quantum scan began, with multiple vectors of light panning over the lady's form for four minutes straight before the results came up on a screen generated by his ring. From what he could tell there were in fact two signatures present in one body, with one being native to this dimension while the other was most certainly not. It implied that the one native to this dimension was acting as a host of sorts to the outsider and this was consistent with the story Travers told Buffy and the others. Willing the native signature aside, he initialized a search for the dimensional record that best matched the other dimensional signature. Fortunately for him the Guardians of the Universe had done extensive work after they'd bonded with the organism that gave them their god-like status and many dimensions had been discovered. It only took about three seconds per record, so in just under two minutes he finally found a positive match with Glory's signature, allowing him to get things ready to open up a portal.

"Alright. I'm going to try and open a portal to your dimension," he said as he took aim with his ring to a spot just shy of five feet to Glorificus' right. "I'm a little new at this so I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it open. I suggest you run right through once it's open."

"You can do that?" Glory asked, clearly not expecting this turn of events but interested nonetheless. "What are you? A god?"

"Nope. Demi-god would probably be more accurate," he said as he watched a small screen over his right eye display a crosshairs plus sensor readouts. "As for whether or not I can do it, I do have some experience but like I said I'm a little new to it. Be ready."

"I am a goddess, half-breed! I was BORN ready!" Glory said with a smile that was neither malicious, nor strangely enough, unhinged.

When the screen over his eye flashed white he gathered up all his considerable willpower and channeled it into his ring, initializing the program to open a portal at the same time. According to Lianna, the Guardians of the Universe could do it all in their heads but, since he wasn't even close to being as smart as those eggheads, she'd put a program into his ring to handle the tough stuff. She sounded confident that eventually he wouldn't need it despite how different he was from her creators, but he wasn't so sure. Just thinking about the complex equations and facts that likely went with opening a dimensional portal made his head hurt, so he figured the artificial intelligence might be overestimating him a bit.

With a quick flash a torrent of energy flew from his ring to the target and hit something, almost making it look like the air itself was solid rather than ethereal. From his side it felt like he was trying to power through hill of dirt with only a pickup truck and a giant shovel attached to the front. It had been like this the last time he'd done it on Oa during his training but, after a few tries as well as some help from Lianna, he'd managed. This time proved no different as cracks or bolts of light seemed to scatter from the point of impact before finally the fragment of reality broke away, forming a rough portal. Immediately his ring began to inform him of the inhospitable environment on the other side so, using what little will he had to spare, he erected an atmospheric shell around the entire area to keep the potential hazards from spreading any further.

"It's open! GO!" he yelled, starting to feel the strain of keeping the portal open and the hazardous environment inside the shell barrier.

"Thanks, half-breed! You're the only person who knows how to treat a goddess on this filthy mudball." Glory said with a smile. "Maybe once I've taken back what's mine I'll come back for a visit."

Before he could say anything she ran through the portal faster than his eyes could follow and almost faster than the ring's sensors could track. Nevertheless as soon as he was sure she'd gone through he sealed up the portal he'd made and willed any lingering dangerous environmentals into a smaller sphere before firing it off into space. As a general rule any such things that existed in the atmosphere of a planet didn't tend to like the cold vacuum of space and died rather quickly. Then, of course, came the surprise that he was only half expecting, which was a naked man in his early twenties lying face down on the ground. He suspected that this person was the host that Glory had been living in for who knew how long and, the moment she passed through his portal, they separated. From what he recalled Giles saying, Glorificus' siblings, the ones that banished her to hopefully be killed, had also put certain safeguards in place. He guessed they hadn't anticipated someone like him coming along and futzing up their work. Still, considering those assholes dumped their sister in a reality that'd drive her nuts and force her to feed on the sanity of others made him less than bothered about the payback that was likely coming their way.

As long as Glory didn't copy her siblings and send them there, he was fine with letting her do whatever she wanted with them.

 _Mission complete!_ he thought as picked up the host in a non-transparent energy cocoon. _I'll drop this guy off at the local hospital to make sure he's alright, then report in at the Magic Box. I doubt all of them will be thrilled with how I handled things but it was the best option._

Buffy would probably say he should've slayed Glory, both because she was a demon and because she was a threat to every human in Sunnydale. Giles would probably cite how it was decidedly possible Glory could return at the head of a demon army, looking to conquer this dimension. Willow would probably be on the fence and try to be nice to him but also sugarcoat 'you did not think this all the way through, did you, Xander'. Dawn, of course, with her crush on him, would support him completely and act as his second chair defense against anything sent his way. Spike… who the hell cared what Peroxide Boy thought, chip or no chip?

A vamp was a vamp was a vamp.

He was going to seriously consider arranging an 'accident' for one William the Bloody in the future because, no matter what the others might think, the member of the Scourge of Europe would turn on them the moment the chip stopped working or got removed. The only reason the Bleached Wonder was acting reasonably friendly at the moment was to keep from getting dusted and probably to get a heads up when something new and evil hit town.

 _Well, something new has hit down but it's of the good,_ he thought as the hospital came into sight. _Good for humans, in any case._

 _ **The Magic Shop, Fifteen Minutes Later, Giles' POV**_

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Buffy yelled at the top of her lungs which, considering her Slayer enhanced physique, made it louder than anything a human could manage.

"Opened a portal and sent her home," Xander replied, not looking ruffled in the least. "When you get right down to it, that's all she really wanted from the moment she was sent to this dimension. I decided to oblige her."

"She's killed HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of people, Xander! Driven even more INSANE!" Buffy yelled, clearly furious with the mid-twenties man's choice. "You should've killed her."

"If I did that, I would've killed the innocent that'd been a host for her and that's against everything we're supposed to be fighting for," Xander said in counter to that point. "Besides, killing her wouldn't have made her victims sane or alive again. A fight between the two of us would've spilled over into the surround homes somehow, hurting or killing the people inside. This was the safest solution with the least cost."

"I thought you said you were some kind of space cop with a magic ring!" Buffy growled back, not giving up her position. "You're saying you couldn't have taken her down without anyone else getting hurt!?"

"I don't know and that's enough to make me decide not to take the chance," Xander replied with half-strained honesty. "I know it's a little hard to believe but I've been through five years of training with this ring but no actual field experience using it under live combat conditions. I'm confident about a lot of things but taking on a goddess with demigod level powers without anyone innocent getting hurt? I am not. Not yet."

He could just see his former charge gearing up for a counter argument but, from his point of view, it was useless to continue. The deed was done and now Glory was someone else's problem.

"While I cannot say that I would have done the same, Xander, what is done is done," he said, entering the conversation/argument himself. "What we will need to do now is consider the possibility of Glorificus returning with a possible army. She is a hell goddess, after all, and like most evil deities conquering realms and making them their own is part of what they do."

"What should we do?" Willow asked, slightly uncomfortable at two of her friends yelling at one another.

"Xander… this dimension database that your ring has… does it have a name for the one you sent Glory to?" he asked, hoping that they could catch a break.

"No. They named them by number and letter combos rather than whatever the natives called it," Xander replied with a shake of his head. "Best I can do is show you some pictures they took of it the first time they visited it. Keep in mind that this was over ten thousand years ago, so a lot could change in that amount of time."

A second later a large blackboard-sized green screen appeared in mid-air before the picture of a non-Earth environment showed itself. Seconds later another showed itself and pictures continued to appear one after another after the same amount of time. A part of him was rather amazed at what he was seeing before him because, while he'd read descriptions of various demon dimensions, he'd never actually seen one. Nevertheless he did his best not to allow the excitement he was feeling on the inside interfere with the careful examination of every element in the pictures. Anything that could tell them which one it was could prove instrumental in determining the likelihood of Glorificus' return as well as what sort of forces she might bring with her.

It wasn't until three minutes later that he got his first serious clue in the form of a creature that looked to be advancing on whoever or whatever was taking the picture.

"That looks like an Urvonian serpent. There have been a few recorded incidents of them appearing on Earth but fortunately something in the environment doesn't agree with them and they die on their own within a week or two," he said as he walked upstairs to get a book. "As you may have guessed, their name also tells us the dimension the Council believes they hail from; Urvon. If that is indeed the case, then we might have hit a spot of good luck."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, sounding less angry and more inquisitive, making it an improvement all around.

"Urvon, according to our various sources, is almost always at war. Various factions vying for power, double as well as sometimes triple crossing one another, and that is just the mortal denizens," Giles replied as he came back down with the right volume. "For the deities it occurs on a much larger scale and routinely results in a changing of the balance of power. Basically they're so busy fighting each other over there they rarely pay visits to other dimensions. It's possible that Glorificus' two siblings wanted to change that routine by teaming up and ousting their main adversary."

"Guess Travers and his people turned out to be useful after all," Buffy said, sounding a little relieved. "Thanks to the info they had and what their spy in the Knights of Byzantim gave them, we know the whole story and we won't have to worry about Glory hopefully ever again."

"Likely not. The two siblings likely turned on one another once Glorificus was dealt with and, depending on how time travels in that dimension, she could arrive to find both of them quite vulnerable," he said considering the possibilities. "Once word gets around that banishing your foe to another dimension does not work, I imagine they'll abandon the idea."

"Well then, I guess that's a wrap!" Xander said as the screen vanished into thin air and his ring stopped glowing. "I'm heading back to my apartment and catching some z's."

"Fine, but next time you find a big bad in Sunnydale, give us a heads up. We all have a stake in what happens in this town and we should all have a say on how a demon is dealt with," Buffy said, trying to sound friendly yet firm. "You said it yourself: you're new to this whole space cop stuff. Might not be a bad thing to have a second or third opinion before make a call."

"When I'm in Sunnydale I'll be sure to check with you since it's your territory," Xander said with a nod of his head. "Assuming, of course, it's not one of those times when I need to make the call because there's no time to check with you then I'll have to use my best judgment."

"I'll take it," Buffy said, sounding honestly okay with it.

With that their group dispersed to either resume what they'd been doing before Xander arrived or going home, as it was getting rather late. He, himself, would be staying for another hour or so refreshing his memory concerning Glorificus' home dimension. He was still confident that the infighting of that dimension would prevent any new arrivals from there but it never hurt to take a few precautions. Buffy had been no match for one of the residents who'd been locked in a mortal shell, so he shuddered to think how things would go if one came without that hindering factor. Granted, they lived in a world where superheroes were plentiful, but since none of them EVER seemed to find their way to the Hellmouth, he'd feel better making plans that didn't depend on them intervening.

If they did wind up intervening, he'd consider it a stroke of good luck.

 _ **Approaching Atlanta, Georgia**_

 _ **Four Days Later, Xander's POV**_

 _Well, here's hoping that my recruitment speech works like I hope it will,_ he thought as he made his way to the address of his first candidate for the new Green Lantern Corps.

"Don't worry, Xander," Lianna said through his ring thanks to her subspace connection. "Your strategy is sound and, if he says no, there are over four billion other possible candidates I can choose from."

"Maybe, but I like what you've found out about this guy," he said as he pulled up what the A.I. had managed to get from the net without attracting attention to herself. "Military training, about to go into Ranger school and extra high points for marksmanship. All good qualities to have in a potential Green Lantern. I hope he takes the offer."

As he flew over the city, he reviewed how he was going to approach the situation.

In the beginning the Guardians intended to simply send out the rings to every sector, with each of them programmed to seek out a sentient capable of overcoming great fear and not possessing any qualities that might lead to them abusing the power they'd been given. However he very much doubted that that would go over well with a lot of people, especially with them having no idea what the Green Lantern Corps was or what becoming a member meant. For the next decade or two recruitment would have to be done in person, with someone who could answer the questions the potentials might have plus give them an actual choice in the matter. He was big on giving people a choice in what direction they wanted their life to take and not forcing them to do something that they didn't want to do. In his opinion people tended to do better at whatever they were doing when they genuinely wanted to do it as opposed to when they were forced to do it. Sure, that was a strange way of looking at things when he'd essentially be telling people what they could or couldn't do as a space cop and forcing them to obey space law, but those'd be criminals not allies.

 _Time to see if the greenhorn is home or if I have to search the town for him,_ he thought upon arriving at the address he had for the potential Lianna had sent him info on.

Hovering high enough not to attract the attention of pedestrians or other residents of the street, he began to scan the building for someone matching the physical parameters of one Marcus Johnson. According to the intel Lianna was able to acquire, the man was on leave waiting for word on his application to Ranger school. If he didn't try to get the guy now he might never get another chance without having to introduce himself to the American military sooner than he'd like. With examples like the Initiative to use as a reference, he had little doubt that they'd try to control him and, failing that, neutralize him either by taking his ring or killing him. It was the military mindset when encountering something they didn't understand and that possessed the potential to do a lot of damage. While he understood their reasons, that didn't mean he was going to set himself up to be their lab rat or their attack dog.

"Ring scan negative," chirped the ring. "Subject is not on the premises."

"Then I guess we do this the hard way," he said before going invisible and flying down to a spot that held the least likely chance of someone seeing him.

Once landed he changed into his civilian clothes, which happened to be a casual business suit with a set of 'Men in Black' shades on his face to complete the picture, before walking towards the front door of the Johnson residence. With luck someone there would be willing to tell him where to find Marcus but if not he'd stake the house out and wait. Lianna's info said the guy wasn't due back at his military base for another three days, so he'd have to come home sometime.

Trotting up the front walkway, he was in front of the door within a minute and knocking on it a second or so later. Didn't take long for someone to answer and when the door swung open he saw a woman looking to be in her forties, dressed like your standard middle class lady. However he didn't miss the appraising look she gave him as well as the area behind him and the soldier part of him instantly picked up on it. She was either ex-military or ex-spook, but either way he'd need to tread carefully if he didn't want her calling some of her old pals.

"Hello, Ma'am. My name is Alan Harrington," he said, holding out a hand for a handshake. "I was wondering if Marcus Johnson was home."

"Why do you want to see my son?" Mrs. Johnson asked with a stone face.

"Well, I'm starting up a business of sorts. Security and S&R for the most part," he replied, keeping as close to the truth as he could without actually saying anything important. "When I started looking for potential employees, people I thought would be perfect for the role, your son's name came up. With his military background among other things, I figured he'd be a good fit for the job."

"Well, he's out with some friends at the moment but he should be back within the hour," Mrs. Johnson said, never losing her composed look. "If you'd like to wait for him, I'd certainly like to hear more about this job."

He took five seconds to mentally map out how this could be a good thing and how it could cause everything to go pear shaped in seconds. On the one hand it'd save him from having to look for his recruit but it'd also give the lady in front of him time to poke holes in his cover story. He'd worked on it with Lianna and it was pamphlet good, with a few additional details, but that was about it. He could ad lib with the best of them but if he was right and the woman was ex-military or agency, then it probably wouldn't fool her. Still, if he talked with her, kept her engaged, she wouldn't be able to call anyone still on active duty and get them to burn through his cover story.

"Sure," he said, figuring it was the least risky of the two options he had.

For the next hour he did his best to give the cover story and add new parts when necessary that looked feasible enough and meshed with the rest of the facts. The fact that he wasn't stumbling all over himself was something he took a measure of pride in since he remembered what he'd been like before his GL training. When he heard the front door of the house open, he turned his head and saw a man in his early twenties walked in with a face that instantly told him it was Marcus Johnson.

"Marcus, glad to see you home," Mrs. Johnson said with a measured smile as she looked at her son.

"Mom? Who's this?" Marcus asked, looking more casual about it.

"I'm Alan Harrington. I came here because I have a job offer to make you, Mister Johnson," he replied before the mother could say anything. "I think it'll be something you'll find interesting."

"I'm sorry, Mister Harrington, but I'm a soldier in the United States military," Marcus said as politely as possible. "I can't think of any reason why I'd want to give that up for a job in the civilian sector."

"Strictly speaking, we're not a civilian group," he said, thinking on his feet. "How about this: you give me one hour of your time and if I can't convince you to sign on, I'll go. Sound good?"

He could tell that the man was still on guard, still wary, so he put on his best lopsided smile before throwing in a little something extra.

"I'll throw in paying for a meal and a six pack?" he offered casually, with humor that only existed in his eyes.

Marcus caught onto that and seemed to appreciate the bit of humor.

"Okay. One hour," Mister Johnson replied with a nod. "So what's the job?"

Pretending to pause for a moment in thought, he then went with his next move.

"Actually let me check something," he said before taking out his cell phone and dialing a number Lianna had set up for this situation.

It rang a few times before Lianna, via the link he'd made with Oan tech, answered on the other end.

"Jade Paladin Security. How may I direct your call?" Lianna asked in the stereotypical receptionist way.

"Put me through to Mister Ganthet. Tell him it's Harrington," he replied, keeping things professional even though he was working from a pre-arranged script.

"One moment, Mister Harrington," Lianna said before transferring him to a second line even though it would still be her talking only with the deceased Guardian's voice she'd be using.

"Ah, Alan! I was wondering when you'd call in," Lianna said, albeit with a male voice. "How goes the recruiting in Atlanta? Has Mister Johnson signed on?"

"I'm with him right now, sir. That's actually what I was calling about," he replied, smiling at the recruit. "It looks like this might be a tough sell so I was wondering if any of our people were on the job close by. Maybe if he saw what we do firsthand, it might convince him that we can offer him a wilder ride than the military can."

"An excellent idea! Just give me a moment," Lianna said before the sounds of keypad keys being tapped came through the phone. "Yes… yes… AH, here we are. Team Bravo is doing security for a Stark Enterprises convoy that should be passing by just outside Atlanta. If you hurry you just might be able to show Mister Johnson how our people do things firsthand."

"Sounds perfect. Thank you, sir," he said, making sure to sound pleased.

"No problem, Alan. Goodnight," Lianna said before hanging up.

"Well, looks like we're in luck. One of our teams is escorting a Stark Enterprises convoy and they'll be passing by outside the city soon. If we leave now you'll be able to see them first hand, Mister Johnson. Interested in a drive outside the city?" he asked, getting up from his chair.

"Sure," Marcus replied with a nod. "Your car or mine?"

"It'll have to be yours. I took a taxi from the airport since accounting is being extra stingy and won't let me get a rental car. They think a taxi is cheaper in the long run," he replied quickly, coming up with a cover for his lack of a vehicle. "I think I'll be glad when business picks up enough that we don't have to count pennies quite so much."

"Fine. We'll be back in an hour, Mom," Marcus said, taking the keys out of his pocket.

A few minutes later they were on the road and driving for the shortest route to the highway where it was only logical for a convoy of vehicles to travel. Keeping an eye on the rearview mirrors to make sure that they were well away from the Johnson home as well as any lit windows that might have people on the other side of them, they continued to drive.

"So where to?" Marcus asked without taking his eyes off the road.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of that," he said as he willed his ring to envelop the car with green energy before causing it to fly off the street and begin to ascend VERY rapidly.

Ever the soldier, Marcus immediately went for a sidearm he'd concealed in the car and pointed the business end at him with a no nonsense look on his face.

"You know, we're over a thousand feet in the air at the moment. Even if that gun could make it past the protective barrier my ring's generating, shooting me would only get you killed," he said conversationally, as though he wasn't worried in the least about the weapon pointed at him.

The military man thought on this a moment before lowering the weapon but he still kept it close enough that it could be brought back up and fired at a moment's notice.

"What do you want?" Marcus asked with a voice like steel.

"I told you. I want to offer you a job," he replied even as he flew the car to a rest stop he'd spotted on his way in. "The thing is that I'd prefer that there be as few eyes on my sales pitch and demonstration as possible for the time being. At least until the major players know not to shoot on sight."

"Why'd they do that?" Marcus asked, sounding suspicious as they touched down on the rest stop.

Getting out of the car and motioning for Marcus to do the same, he took one final look around to make sure there was no one looking in their direction before showing the guy the next part of the job pitch. With a single thought he willed his clothes to change into his Green Lantern uniform, complete with mask, and as expected it widened the recruit's eyes as well as caused Mister Johnson to take a step back.

"Marcus Johnson. You have the ability to overcome great fear," he said with all due seriousness and respect. "Would you like to join the Green Lantern Corps?"

 _ **Marcus Johnson's POV**_

 _Never thought this'd happen to me,_ he thought as he looked at some superhero he'd never seen before. _Don't know who this guy is, though. Never seen him in the papers before or on TV._

Still, there was no denying the power since making the car fly and changing clothes with green energy wasn't something even the military was capable of, much less some middle class John Smith. If both things were done to get his attention, then mission accomplished because no soldier worth his uniform would turn his back on Alan Harrington at this point. At the same time, though, he wanted to know more about the 'job' he was being offered, if only to be able to give his superiors a proper briefing when he got back to base.

"What's the Green Lantern Corps?" he asked, not letting what was going on inside his head.

"It's going to be an intergalactic peace keeping and law enforcement organization with two operatives in every sector of space," Alan replied before bringing his ring up to be looked at. "Every member will be issued one of these rings, will be trained in their use and then sent back to their native sector to keep an eye on it. Think of it like space Avengers."

Now that was interesting.

Not just being issued a ring that could make things fly but also the idea of a space-based organization that was similar to the Avengers. Everyone had heard of the team of superheroes who made a regular habit of saving the world from everything from alien invasions to monsters from another dimension. He knew that some of his fellow soldiers didn't like them, saw them as showboating freaks that took the spotlight away from true heroes like them, but from his point of view both groups had their role to play. As proud as he was to be a soldier, he knew that if they tried to tackle some of the things that the Avengers did, there'd be significant casualties. If conventional weapons, SWAT or military, could take down the likes of Doctor Doom or the Juggernaut, then there'd be no need for costumed heroes. He wasn't about to let pride get him or anyone fighting by his side killed when there were better equipped as well as better trained people available who could do the job without significant injury.

"Who do we answer to? Mister Ganthet?" he asked, remembering the name of the man Harrington had spoken to on the phone.

"Ac-tually… I have a confession to make," Harrington replied, looking a little uncomfortable. "Ganthet actually doesn't exist anymore. Aside from me the only other being involved is an artificial intelligence by the name of Lianna. At the moment I'm the only Green Lantern and its defacto leader as a result. Fortunately my predecessor left Lianna with a lot of the details already worked out already, so all that's left is to find the bodies to fill the sectors and then get them trained. I decided to start with sector two eight one four, which is the sector Earth is in, and your name is the first one that came up as a potential recruit."

Well, this was something of a letdown.

He'd thought he'd be joining an already existing and underway organization with plenty of other members and established relations with whatever governments existed in the galaxy. Now he knew that the organization was basically an HQ, a supped-up computer program and one member with an admittedly remarkable ring.

"Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking why would you join a group that's practically a skeleton at the moment with no real clout or assets yet," Alan said before extending a hand with the palm facing the sky. "So how about I let you test drive this and we'll see if that can get you interested?"

A moment later a point of light the size of a ping pong ball manifested in the palm of Alan's hand but it only lasted a few seconds before it vanished to reveal a ring very similar to the one that Harrington was wearing. Temptation rose within him as his imagination produced images of what he could do with it on his finger, as well as speculation on what else it might be capable of. He could remember a few times in the field where something like this could've saved a lot of lives and made things so much simpler. However before he let it all get the better of him there was one other point that needed to be touched on.

"What do I tell my C.O.?" he asked, thinking on his position in the military.

"Nothing. In fact it would probably be best if you resigned your commission," Alan replied bluntly yet compassionately. "A Green Lantern is a force for liberty and life for an entire sector of space, not one specific nation. While one of the laws in the Book of Oa forbids interfering with a planet's culture, political structure and the population's collective will, there will be times when you may be called upon to disregard local laws in the defense of life and liberty. Besides which, I refuse to allow the military of any nation a chance to examine a ring or reverse engineer it in order to further their own interests."

So it looked like the price tag for joining the Green Lantern Corps was pretty hefty.

He'd be forced to turn in a commission he'd worked his ass off to get and turn his back on a calling he'd been a part of for four years. On the other hand he couldn't exactly find fault with Harrington's position since the man was probably right about what the brass would do if they saw a chance to get their hands on the ring. Every general and admiral would kill each other for the chance to have a weapon that could put them on even ground with the cape and cowl crowd and, if it could be mass produced, so much the better. As for treating everyone on Earth equally and giving them equal protection he could certainly get behind that idea. He often hated how some of his C.O.s had told him to leave people in need alone even though those people obviously needed help. Reasons were given, of course, from a lack of sufficient resources to make a difference to the fact that there COULD be enemy soldiers mixed in with the innocent civilians. Often times it was simply because politics made it unprofitable to help a group or country and that pissed him off more than anything.

Help shouldn't be a give and take transaction.

If someone needed help, you gave it, or at least that's what his mother had always taught him.

With that in mind he reached his decision and took the ring from Harrington's hand before slipping it onto the middle finger of his left hand.

Green light filled his vision.

 _ **High Above the Clouds, Atlanta, Georgia**_

 _ **Xander's POV**_

"WAAAHOOO!" Marcus yelled as he flew through the air like a fighter plane, albeit with three times the maneuverability and speed.

"I take it you like it?" he asked with a smile on his face.

"I LOVE it!" Johnson replied as he continued to put his newfound power of flight through its paces. "All I have to do is think about where I want to go and, BAM, I go there!"

"It's a definite advantage to be able to change direction at the speed of thought rather than the second or two it takes to yank the stick," he said in agreement as he easily kept up with the potential recruit, "but that's not all the ring can do. Watch."

With that he willed a mini-gun into existence and fired off a few rounds in a direction he knew wouldn't result in anyone or anything getting hurt by accident. After a few seconds he changed the construct into a green semitransparent version of Madonna going through the dance moves used in the music video of her most famous song. Topping off the demonstration, he changed the construct one more time until it was a perfect replica of an SR-71 Blackbird, down to the smallest visible detail.

"Basically what the ring can do is limited only by your willpower, your imagination, the energy capacity of the ring and the presence of the color yellow," he explained before letting the construct disperse. "In the right hands it can defeat an entire fleet of warships and is the ultimate omni-tool for any given situation. True, you need to have at least some understanding of whatever you want to will into existence, especially if you want to use all the functions of whatever it is you made, but it's still awesome."

As expected, once Marcus saw examples of construct making he immediately began trying to make his own with the ring on his finger. They were a little wonky in the beginning, looked to be having difficulty retaining shape, but with every try the man got better until their only flaws were their simplicity. It was actually quite impressive since, much like Dawn's attempt with her power, most of the aliens the Guardians had originally recruited had a difficult time getting the hang of constructs. Most took at least a few days before they managed basic shapes and forms before moving onto more complicated things.

 _Looks like Lianna did good with her first pick for the new Corps,_ he thought as Marcus dispersed his latest construct and turned to look at him.

"So what do you say, Mister Johnson? Interested in becoming the first official recruit to the Green Lantern Corps?" he asked, deciding that the guy had test driven the ring long enough to get a taste.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said being able to do this wasn't one helluva incentive!" Johnson replied after stopping his efforts at construct creation. "Would it be alright if I had a few days to think it over? Don't want to make a decision on an adrenaline rush."

"Smart move. Sure," he replied with a nod, having no trouble with that. "Impulsive decisions aren't always the right ones. I'll fly back this way in three days."

With that the two of them flew back to where Marcus Johnson's car was waiting for them and, once there he reclaimed the ring, since he didn't want to leave it in the hands of someone who chose not to join since there was a chance he or she would run off with it. Granted, he'd always be able to track it down or issue a command for it to leave the finger of the thief, but he didn't want to take any chances with arguably the most powerful weapon in the galaxy.

Taking back to the sky, he began to wonder if he should head back to Sunnydale or do a quick look around the planet to see if there were any emergencies that could use a GL's aid. While officially he wanted to stay under the radar until the Corps was up and running, if there was someone who really needed his help then there was no way he could just turn in for the evening.

 _Looks like patrolling it is,_ he thought as he willed his ring to do a survey of all known emergency frequencies as well as police or military frequencies.

"Warning! Class Two Biohazard situation in progress in the city known as Beauvais!" his ring chirped, almost managing to sound alarmed with its report. "Ground Zero reported to be underground in the subway system. The existence of the biohazard is being restricted to encrypted military channels. All those without sufficient military clearance are simply being told that it is a train crash in the Channel tunnel."

"Responders?" he asked the ring's basic artificial intelligence.

"Emergency response teams are en route, as are the police. A phone call has been intercepted between a London official and Professor Charles Francis Xavier, head of X Corporation, indicating that the latter will be sending a team to assist. This team has been informed of the biohazard situation but has not been given all the details."

 _Interesting,_ he thought to himself as he recalled what he'd seen on TV a little over a day ago.

The X-Men had been around for a long while and sometimes you couldn't turn the channel without seeing someone talking about them for some reason. Most of the press was bad since no TV station wanted to risk getting labeled 'mutie lovers' or 'mutant sympathizers', but a few people had the guts to present the truth rather than give it an anti-mutant slant. However it'd been something of a shock to all when Xavier outed himself as a mutant, then just a little while ago announced the formation of X Corporation. As far as he and his friends were concerned they didn't have a problem with mutants so long as they didn't go nuts and go on a rampage or try to enslave/exterminate humanity. Buffy had even joked about sending Dawn off to the Institute to learn how to control her new abilities but naturally the youngest, mentally, Summers had objected. She'd made it clear that she wanted to be trained by him since the abilities of his ring and her powers were similar enough for it to be feasible.

He, of course, had ducked out before it got to the point where they'd ask his opinion.

 _Still, if you filter out all the bigot bullshit and look for the basic facts, they're not much different from the Avengers,_ he thought as he began to fly in the general direction of Beauvais. _Maybe I should just let them handle the situation._

However that sounded too much like he was being lazy and dumping a situation on someone else to deal with. Besides which, he didn't know the precise details of the biohazard situation, only that it was serious according to what his ring had managed to find out so far. For all he knew it could be more than they could handle and, if that was indeed the case, a lot of innocent people could be in harm's way right that very moment. With a shake of his head he upped his speed to about fifteen thousand miles per hour so he could arrive at the scene inside twenty minutes. He also sent a trans-light signal to Lianna on Oa, informing her that he might need her help if the threat turned out to be too complex for him to handle on his own.

 _Shit! I think I just jinxed myself,_ he thought with frustration as the world passed below.

"Connect to cell phone and dial Willow Rosenberg," he ordered, figuring he'd probably need all the help he could get.

It took a few minutes for Willow to pick up but by then he had a good idea of what to tell her.

"What's up, Xander?" Willow asked, no doubt knowing who it was based on the Caller ID that popped up on her phone.

"I'm on my way to deal with a situation in Beauvais. Biohazard in the Channel tunnel with lots of people trapped," he replied even as he looked ahead for his first sign of trouble. "The thing is that the military is keeping this fun little fact a secret and making sure everyone else thinks it's just your standard train crash/derailment. I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a little hacking for me so I could get some more info on what was really going on. Interested?"

"Wouldn't that be illegal?" she asked, not sounding like she was completely against it.

"Yeah, but considering they're transporting a biohazard through a populated area with innocent people in the other train cars and don't have the stones to let the people going into help know the truth, I doubt it's on the up and up," he replied, listening to the echoes of Soldier Boy. "If that's the case then you gotta ask yourself what's more important: what's legal or what's right?"

"What's right," Willow said, conceding his point. "Alright, I'll get digging."

"Just be careful. People with secrets tend to want them to stay kept and some use some pretty nasty means of doing that," he said, hoping his best bud would take the necessary precautions. "Make sure you keep an eye out for surprises and your defenses up."

"You really think it'll be that bad?" she asked, sounding worried.

"I'd rather you went overboard with the defenses and not need them then get hit with something you couldn't deflect," he replied, hoping she'd heed his words.

"Alright. I'll use my best hacking programs and put up a few arcane circles of protection in place before I do anything," she said, giving in with sounds of movement coming through the line.

"Good. Call me if you come across anything you think I need to know," he said before ending the call.

With his best bud backing him up, he now felt better about his odds of ending the crisis on a positive note. Even as water replaced land beneath him and he flew over the Atlantic Ocean towards the France, he began to make plans for dealing with the biohazard. While his ability to tap into the blue hope part of the emotional electromagnetic spectrum might allow him to heal, he didn't think it'd be able to handle a serious virus or man-made plague. That'd require him to know how to counter it and he SO wasn't qualified to work at the CDC, much less at a hospital that was equipped to handle such things. That was why he hoped that the trans-light hook up with Lianna would make up for any deficiencies he might have since a highly advanced A.I. had to have entire databases on medicine and viruses.

She'd be able to help him when all else failed.


	3. The big debut, the first recruit

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. Therefore I'd appreciate it if no legal action were taken against me.

PS-Positive reviews are appreciated. Constructive criticism will be considered but not necessarily acted upon. People looking to insult/deride/bash my work and otherwise ruin my day you will be ignored at the very least and review blocked at the very most.

 _ **Entrance to the Channel Tunnel, Theresa Cassidy's POV**_

 _One day at a time, Da,_ she thought as she descended to the entrance of the tunnel. _One day at a time._

It was something she told herself before every mission to bolster her resolve.

Ever since her father's attempt at policing mutants blew up in his face she'd been caught between her own feelings about what he'd done and the opinions of others. Some cared about him enough to cut him some slack and let the whole thing pass them by as just another page in the history of mutantkind. Others didn't like what'd happened but weren't going to hold her responsible for the actions of her father. Then there were those that thought they were being so subtle about the looks they were sending her way but made it clear that they thought she'd known a lot more about her father's actions with X-Corp than she let on. She supposed that it was only natural since it'd be one of her first thoughts if she met the daughter of someone involved with shady business who worked at the same place as him. It didn't mean that she liked the looks or that the looks didn't hurt but it kept her from letter her temper get the better of her.

"I wish I'd never eaten that fucking sandwich…" Sam griped as they came in for a landing.

It was his own fault for getting that sandwich from a vending machine since there was no way of knowing how long they'd been in there or if anything had gone bad until you took a bite.

"So does EVERYONE who went without an umbrella in downtown Beauvais," Darkstar said as her feet hit the ground.

"Madrox! Was that really you trying to sing 'Justify my Love'?" she asked, spotting her friend. "That was about the most perverted thing I ever heard. WIERDO that yeh are! I'll take that quavering voice to my tomb with me."

"Hey, and I hope everybody noticed he was HARMONIZING," Rictor said with his long locks of hair completely drenched by the rain coming down.

"That kind of performance takes lots of LOOONG practice sessions alone at home," Cannonball said, setting down on the sidewalk.

"I'm Madrox the Multiple Man, ya doughball!" one of the Madroxes said before high fiving another. "I'm never alone with myself!"

"So did you ever have an orgy with just the ten of yourself, Jamie?" she asked, deciding to go with the joking mood. "I'm seeing ten of your writhing on silk sheets…"

"Wuhh…" Monet stated sharply, her disgust at the imagery visible. "Conversation STOP."

"I'm just interested in the sexual habits of Madrox, the Multiple Man," she said as the assembled group began to make their way down to the entrance to the tunnel. "Don't try to tell me yeh're not, Monet, yeh dirty oul slag!"

It was fun getting a rise out of the usually cocky and proper girl and she figured since they'd yet to come across anything significant there was time enough for a bit of fun.

Monet, of course, decided to focus on something else.

"Um… so, what's happening in the tunnel?" Monet asked one of Madrox's duplicates.

"Looks like nothing to me. I haven't seen anyone…" Dupe Madrox replied before changing the subject. "Listen, did you really throw up over Beauvais?"

She had to smirk at that since it caused an amusing look to cross over Monet's face.

She was about to say something more when she noticed a spot of green light heading their way from high above. She wasn't the only one to notice so everyone paused in their initial decision to enter the tunnel to search for survivors of the train crash to see if it was a good thing or a bad thing. They didn't have long to wait because seconds later the object was close enough that they could see it was a masked man coated in a green energy field descending towards them. She didn't recognize him but then that didn't mean a whole lot since it wasn't uncommon for a new hero to come popping out of the woodwork every once in a while. Then again he could just as easily be a villain since it wasn't like there was a law of the universe that said certain colors were solely for the use of heroes. While it wasn't obvious, she prepared herself to let out a sizeable screech of her sonic powers just in case the arrival turned out to be a threat of some kind.

"Don't suppose there's room for one more in this search and rescue operation?" the unknown man asked as he landed and the green energy field vanished.

"Depends. Who are yeh?" she asked since she was the closest to him at the moment.

"Name's Green Lantern," the man replied, turning to look at her with a lopsided smile. "Picked up word of the situation and decided to come see if I could help."

"We appreciate the thought but this isn't a situation for newbies," Monet said, sounding as arrogant as ever. "Give us one good reason to bring you along."

"My ring allows me to create constructs of solid light limited only by imagination, I can generate a force field big enough to protect the whole group, electromagnetic scanning is an option with my ring, universal translator and a couple of other things," Green Lantern replied as though he hadn't noticed Monet's condescending attitude. "Considering we're walking into a biohazard situation I think a force field would be helpful since I doubt anyone here wants to get sick from whatever's in there. Add to that I can whip up scanners and displays if any of you have virus and biohazard know how in their heads and I'd say I could be helpful."

She couldn't help but chuckle at the look of surprise on Monet's face since it was rare that the teacher's pet was caught off guard like that.

"Sounds like he'd be mighty helpful, M," Cannonball said, snapping the girl out of her shock.

"Yes. I suppose so," Monet said, doing her best to trick everyone into thinking her lapse was their imagination. "You may accompany us but you will follow our lead and obey my orders. This is an X-Corporation operation and we don't need some untrained hero complicating matters."

No one was buying the trick but they let it go, figuring they had better things to do.

"Fine by me," Green Lantern said with a nod and a half grin.

"Then erect a force field around our group and produce a console so that I can monitor for potential hazards," Monet ordered, making it sound like he should feel honored to be considered useful by her.

"Aye, aye, Ma'am," he said before energy flowed out from his ring, putting all of them inside a dome-shaped force field while also creating a floating three station console with displays.

M took her place at the console and as one the group entered the tunnel, heading for where the reports stated the train carrying the civilians and the gene/biohazard had crashed. In keeping with the training she'd received from Cable as a member of X-force she kept her eyes and ears open for the slightest sign of innocents or trouble but she also spared the occasional glance at Green Lantern. Everyone else on the team knew each other from the many times their respective X-teams had teamed up during past crises, as well as team get togethers, but this masked man was an unknown. The presence of an unknown could potentially disrupt teamwork and with so many innocent lives on the line that could make things go very bad.

Therefore she decided to deal with an unknown the way Cable had taught her: fish for information.

"So yer power comes from yer ring then?" she asked casually as the group walked further and further into the tunnel.

"Mostly. According to my teacher I should be able to tap into the energy without it someday but for now the ring's just easier." Green Lantern replied keeping his eyes focused ahead.

"When'd yeh get it?" she asked, figuring it was an innocent enough question.

"That's… actually a far more interesting question then you might think," he replied with a smirk on his face. "From my perspective I got it about five years or so ago. From the perspective of the rest of the galaxy it was five months."

Naturally she tried to wrap her head around that answer but the best she could figure out it either had something to do with a VR world where a person's perception of time was different or a time-space anomaly. It was kinda strange how your definitions of impossible and possible changed after living the kind of life she had but she was still pretty sure of her guesses.

"So you're pretty experienced then?" she asked, figuring five years with the ring would make him as good as anyone she knew when it came to the item's abilities.

"Using the ring, yeah, but not outside of training," he replied before frowning and generating a third screen construct in front of him that looked like a circular grid that pulsed waves from the center.

"What's that?" she asked pointing at the new screen.

"Motion sensor. It's a little dark in here with only the emergency lighting to see by," he replied while looking for even a slight sensor contact. "When I heard about this situation I got a little suspicious about it. I know we're only here to do S&R but it couldn't hurt to be overly cautious just in case something a little shady is going on."

"What do yeh mean?" she asked since this was the first she'd heard of the situation being more serious than a gene hazard situation.

"The details I picked up were from encrypted military channels rather than emergency services," he replied while she also kept an eye on the motion sensor screen. "If this was just your average gene/biohazard situation they'd be telling emergency services what they'd be walking into so they could prepare or telling them to back off so that the better equipped and trained could go in. The fact that they're clamping down on the truth means they have something to hide and that makes my danger sense itch."

Much as she wanted to dismiss the notion, she could not.

With that in mind she decided that she'd up her level of caution accordingly since shady military operations often meant deadly technology usually aimed at killing mutants.

With such a small team and such cramped quarters, things could get very nasty very quickly.

 _ **Xander's POV**_

 _So far, so good,_ he thought as he kept his eyes and ears open for trouble while keeping his motion tracker within his field of vision. _Still, something doesn't feel right. Yeah, there was a train crash but we haven't seen a bit of blockage the entire way down. If there were survivors at least some of them should've been able to make it this far by now._

The truth was what they hadn't seen a single soul since they'd entered the tunnel.

That could mean simply that the blockage was further ahead but to him it was far more likely that they were either dead, seriously ill or being kept captive by something. None of those possibilities were a good thing, especially as far as the rescue team he'd joined was concerned, so he made sure the force field he'd thrown up was extra strong and willed it to filter out anything dangerous. So far the young woman that reminded him a lot of Cordy, except without the 'valley girl' slang and with a more refined arrogant attitude, hadn't reported anything concerning from her place at the sensor console constructs. He had faith in the constructs since they'd been downloaded into his ring by Lianna herself, who assured him that they were some of the most advanced, most sensitive, in existence. Presuming that the woman manning them was as good as she no doubt thought she was, they hadn't yet run into something dangerous but he didn't expect that to last long. If this were a movie, video game or television, they'd soon run into their first hostile and it'd probably make its presence known by trying to ambush the least attentive of their group.

One of the reasons why he'd put up a force field around the group was to prevent that and provide protection against any airborne viruses or toxins.

If the threat turned out to be something capable of breaking through his force field then he wanted as much advance warning of their approach as he could manage. His motion sensor extended five hundred meters in every direction and could pick up anything from a rat scurrying on the ground to a Clydesdale Horse. The sensor would display the location of the object in motion every two seconds and display the size of the object at the same time, giving the person looking an idea of what was heading their way. If it looked like the number and size of the incoming threats were too much for the team to handle he'd use his ring to get them out of the tunnel. It wasn't a slight to their abilities or experience but, if the threat was infectious, better that only one more person get hit with the stuff rather than all seven of them. While he knew he was being a little pessimistic, the 'hope for the best but plan for the worst' way of thinking seemed the prudent course of action until the universe prompted him to be more optimistic.

PING!BOOP!

"I've got a contact on the motion sensor," he declared as a dot manifested on the outer edge of the screen in front of him. "Looks to be about three feet tall and headed our way. Coming at us from twelve o'clock."

PING!BOOP!PING!BOOP!

"Make that three contacts, two of them looking to be the size of a human adult in addition to the one three feet tall," he said before even more contacts popped up. "We've got incoming company and there are a lot of them."

"M? What have yeh got on the sensors?" the redhead who'd been fishing for info asked the woman behind the sensor console constructs.

"Assuming these constructs are actually doing their job I'm reading human life signs but there is something decidedly puzzling about some of the readings," M replied with a slight crease in her forehead. "It is almost as if there's some sort of secondary energy field along with the normal bio-electric field."

"Well, that doesn't sound good," he said as he watched more and more contacts show up on his motion sensor.

It didn't take long before the naked eye could see what before only sensors could tell were there but what he saw began to creep him out by leaps and bounds. At first glance it looked like the civilians from the train but there was an unnatural synchronicity to their movements that could not be happening for good reasons. Then, of course, things only got worse when he noticed a faint neon blue glow coming from both their eyes and mouth because, coupled with the identical expressions, it pretty much cemented his opinion of the situation.

Whatever the gene/biohazard was, it didn't kill the victims so much as take away their individuality and probably connected them in some kind of hive mind. Whether or not the victims still had their own minds somewhere inside and they were merely being suppressed he didn't know but it was safe to say there wouldn't be any dramatic reassertion of their individuality any time soon. Making a split second decision he brought down the dome force field around the rescue group and instead used his ring to create a wall then have it spread down the tunnel in the direction of the threat. Every possible way in or out of the tunnel was sealed off with a force field, doing his damndest to make as strong as possible.

"Miss M? What do the sensors tell you and do you need me to grab a random subject from this hoard for a more focused scan?" he asked even as he 'felt' his barrier being pounded on.

"From what I can tell they've all been infected with a techno-organic version of the micro-Sentinels Cassandra Nova hit the Institute with. They're circulating throughout the body and appear to have complete control of the nervous system including the brain," M replied even as she worked the keyboards of the consoles like a master pianist. "I'm not seeing any sign of an airborne contagion so whatever did this to them likely did it through touch or bodily fluids."

"Okay, so I think it's safe to say that anyone here who can only get the job done through close quarters combat or even mid-range combat should probably bail out," he said even as he increased the effort to keep his containment field intact. "If these guys manage to get through my barrier, long rangers will be in the best position to defend themselves from infection. For a little while, at least."

"What do yeh mean a l'il while?" asked the redhead whose name he still didn't know.

"If this is spread through touch and it started on the train, then how much do you want to bet that just about everyone on it has been infected by this point?" he asked rhetorically as more and more infected people showed up to increase pressure on his containment field. "No matter how good you guys are, even you can get overwhelmed through sheer numbers."

"Can't you keep them bottled up? Just until we figure out a way to fix them?" asked a Kentucky accented young man with blonde hair and goggles.

"Contain a hundred and fifty people plus whatever started this mess? Maybe, and that's a BIG maybe," he replied, never looking away from the infected army looking to get at them. "All depends on whether or not they have any other tricks up their sleeve. If all they got is their hive mind and physical bodies it shouldn't be too hard. If they got some kind of energy blasts or something then I'd have to wait and see how good it works on my ring's energy before I could give you a yay or a nay."

"Well… anyone have a plan B?" the redhead asked, not liking his response much.

"I do but I'll need some back up from my HQ," he said as the solution came to him much to his reluctance. "Lianna this is Lantern Prime. Do you read? Over."

"This is Lianna. I'm reading you five-by-five Lantern Prime," Lianna's voice came back loud enough for the group to hear her. "What's the situation?"

"We've got a techno-organic virus down in the Channel Tunnel on the French end that appears to forcibly integrate organics into a hive mind consciousness through touch or bodily fluids. Uploading sensor data now," he replied before sending all the information to Oa via his ring. "I'm thinking of using some blue H on the infected to get them back to normal. Will it work?"

"Give me a second," she replied, no doubt to convince the listeners that she was on their level in terms of processing information. "Hmmmm…. we should be able to do this but we'll need the help of the others in your group. In order to ensure that patient zero doesn't terminate his thralls before you get to them, you'll need to get them all in one go. You up for it?"

"You know me," he replied. "I'm an all or nothing kinda guy."

"I figured as much. Then I shall handle the treatment subroutines while you and the others provide the power," Lianna said, sounding like this was par for the course for him.

Which it was and it was something he'd made pretty clear during training back on Oa.

"What does she mean 'bout gettin' help from us?" the redhead asked, sounding like what she'd heard had given her hope for a positive resolution.

Perfect!

"The trick I'm planning to do runs on a specific emotion: hope," he replied as he mentally caused the shift from green will to blue hope. "The more we can give it, the better our odds of this working. I'm decent enough but with a little extra help from you guys and my plan B will work. You guys willing?"

They looked at each other, no doubt evaluating whether or not they should trust a stranger, but in the end they were good people so they nodded in the affirmative.

"Then let's get started," he said as he created chest plate constructs for each of them while still maintaining his quarantine barrier. "Put'em on."

 _ **Monet St. Croix's POV**_

"So how does this work?" she asked as she finished strapping on the energy construct.

"Simple. Think of something or someone that fills you with a sense of hope," Green Lantern replied even as more controlled civilians tried to pummel their way out of their energy prison. "It's the feeling, the emotion, that's important more than the actual imagery, so whatever suits you. The harnesses will then siphon the hope from you, channel it into my ring and I will then use it to try and save these people."

That seemed simple enough.

Still there were too many unknowns about this Green Lantern for her to be completely at ease and without suspicions regarding the man. Who was he really? Where did he get his ring? What were its strengths and weaknesses? Did he have a secret agenda? While the others might be willing to give the newcomer the benefit of a doubt, she was intelligent enough to consider the possibility of deception and a threat. Some might think that she was going against that train of thought by strapping on his construct but she was confident that her superhuman strength would prove capable of tearing herself free. She also had the option of telepathically attacking him, seizing control of his mind and getting him to release them whether he consciously wished to or not. In short, if he showed his true colors and they turned out to be evil, she would be amply prepared to make him regret it after she freed her comrades.

"So basically think happy thoughts and let you do the rest?" Madrox asked, sounding a little doubtful that this would improve their situation.

"HOPEFUL thoughts, Mister One Man Basketball Team. HOPEFUL thoughts," Green Lantern replied, stressing what he'd need to make this work.

 _Hopeful thoughts,_ she thought to herself as she considered the issue. _What is it really that inspires hope in me?_

Once upon a time it would've been Everett, but with his death that was no longer a possibility because, even while it was true that members of X-Groups had a tendency to return from the grave, she was a realist at heart. The circumstances regarding the return of previous mutant colleagues were extraordinary and sometimes carried a rather hefty price for both sides of the transaction. Also most of those that returned possessed some valuable ability or piece of knowledge that made them worth bringing back. As much as she would… approve of Everett's return, she knew it was not likely to happen in her lifetime.

Another possible source for hope would be her hope for her future and the few people she deigned to consider friends. While she wasn't so idealistic so as to believe in Charles Xavier's dream as some of her allies, she did hope for a day when none of them need fear using their powers in public. Deciding that this imagery would provide the needed emotion she expanded on it and filled her mind with all the things she hoped the future would bring. A world where baseline humans no longer looked at mutants like monsters to be destroyed or shunned. A world where mutants would be able to pursue their dreams without having to worry about being discriminated against due to a fluke of genetics. A world where humanity finally outgrew its infantile prejudices and violent impulses so that they could become something more than a planet of primitives that most of the galaxy saw them as. Over and over again she found new things to hope for, new things to inspire hope inside of her and it was then that she felt the feeling being pulled to the cord connecting the harness to the ring that made it.

"Reaching critical mass now, Lianna," Green, or rather currently Blue Lantern, stated as the cloud of energy around his ring reached a potent level of power. "Prepare to guide the energies to where they need to go in five… four… three… two… one… NOW!"

With all the force of a fireman's hose at full, blue energy surged towards the contained infected civilians and animals. The moment it hit the barrier it went from engulfing only half of the tunnel to the entirety as it continued to flow towards what she presumed was the other end of the shell keeping the infected contained. She could tell the instant the energy began to affect the infected since they all of a sudden ceased to move, implying that they had been immobilized. However it was when she began to notice that the neon blue light that had been emanating from their eyes and mouths began to dim that she knew true progress was being made. Then, one by one, the victims that were visible lost the light entirely but it was still a minute before Green/Blue Lantern used his ring to remove them from the quarantine container he'd constructed. If the pattern continued she estimated that all the train passengers would be restored to full health within the next half hour at most.

Then something changed.

"Damn. Whatever this stuff is, it's definitely sentient or at the very least highly adaptive," Green/Blue Lantern declared with increased exertion. "Our treatment progress went from cruising speed to going up one helluva mountain. Lianna? Anything you can do?"

"Working on it," Lianna replied with the communications link. "Whoever is controlling the remaining infected civilians is increasing the affected area in their bodies in order to retain their grip. If it goes too far there won't be enough of the original organic material for the victim to be restored."

"Not acceptable!" Green/Blue Lantern said in a way that would tolerate no naysayers.

Then, surprise of surprises, the level of power being channeled into the quarantine area jumped but she didn't feel any extra draw from her harness, nor did it look like the others were experiencing anything unusual. However it's what happened next that sent a shiver of… something… down her spine that she just knew would be nagging her for days.

" _ **In fearful day, in raging night,**_ _**With strong hearts full, our souls ignite,**_ " Green/Blue Lantern chanted with strength in every word. " _ **When all seems lost in the War of Might,**_ _**Look to the stars, for hope burns bright!**_ "

Word by word the energy he was pouring into the quarantine field grew until it was impossible for anyone present to see what was going on inside it or look in its general direction. This bright lightshow only lasted half a minute at best but, when it finally faded to the point where she could look back, she found all of the train passengers lying unconscious on the ground in front of her team. A quick telepathic scan of each of them showed no sign of the force that had possessed them only mere moments ago and all of them seemed to be none the worse for wear. However the man who was now shifting back to a green, white and black uniform, looked like he was having something of a dizzy spell at the moment. Theresa was closest to him so she acted swiftly to steady him before he fell face first into the railing at his feet.

"Are y'alright?" Theresa asked once the man looked to be recovered.

"Yeah… just a little lightheaded for a minute," Green Lantern replied, turning his head to look at her. "Never channeled that much power before for something so complex. Lianna? Status on the victims?"

"All victims have been purged of the foreign influence and show no lingering side effects that your ring can detect," Lianna replied through audio so that all could hear. "I have also taken the liberty of using your ring to isolate patient zero for you as you were less than coherent."

"Yeah, I can feel it," Green Lantern said, looking down the tunnel and into the barely lit darkness. "I got him. Thanks for the help."

"Think nothing of it, Lantern Prime. See you in a few days," Lianna said before a beep indicated, most likely, the termination of the connection.

It was a minute later that she saw a pod of energy floating towards them from further in the Channel Tunnel but it was only when it got less than fifty yards away that she could see what was inside of it. It looked like it might have started as human but it had blue fire for hair, had the same glowing holes in its face as its victims and its fingers looked more like talons than anything else. She could see it struggling to escape the pod it was in but she didn't see so much as a shudder from the container, much less a sign that it would soon break.

"Is it a mutant? Some laboratory creation?" Rictor asked as he looked at the cause of their problem.

"I don't know," Green Lantern replied as the pod finally came to a stop in front of them. "But I do know that it's dangerous."

An explosion from the ceiling caught them all by surprise and it was years of training as well as a bit of luck that kept them or any of the civilians from getting hurt. They were all barely given time to register this as figures dropped down from ropes through the hole, surrounding all of them in less than a minute. When the dust finally settled and their eyesight returned to normal, she found that the new arrivals were soldiers armed to the teeth and wearing expensive looking protective gear. One by one the automatic weaponry was aimed at them, making all hesitant to move since, without knowing who these people were, they wouldn't know what the potential consequences might be.

"Well… I must say this is a bit of a surprise," said a man in his late forties wearing a beret who looked like the leader of the group. "We'd been told that you lot were in a bit of a tight spot when we were ordered in to lend a hand. Looks like intel dropped the ball."

"Yeah. Looks like," Green Lantern said with measured tones before something seemed to catch his attention.

"Civvies okay?" Beret asked with a guarded tone of voice.

"They're alive and infection free if that's what you mean… General? Major?" she asked, wanting to know who the guy was to lead his team into their operation.

"Captain, missy, and that's good to hear," Beret replied, not giving more than he had to. "After all, that's the most important thing."

"Except maybe where this thing came from," Theresa said, sounding suspicious of their present circumstances.

"True. Guess it'll just have to be one of life's mysteries," Beret said, sounding like he couldn't care less.

Or he already knew very well where the creature came from.

"Not really," Green Lantern said in a tone she'd only heard from Miss Frost when someone had made the mistake of crossing her. "The Weapon Plus program needs better firewalls and security programs."

THIS caused a flinch and a narrowing of the eyes that told her Lantern had hit a nerve.

"My source also told me that there's enough paperwork online to tell me that this so called 'train crash' wasn't an accident. It was arranged on purpose, as was word of this getting to X-Corporation," Green Lantern growled, obviously bubbling in anger. "My guess is you guys wanted to see how your 'weapon' would do against a team of trained mutants, civilian lives be damned. I guess it's a good thing I showed up when I did otherwise things could've gotten a lot messier."

This soured the mood of every member of X-Corporation; none of them liked being set up or assholes using innocent civilians as bait.

"Well, since you know so much, you should know it can get a helluva lot messier," Beret said, sounding less polite and more hostile. "Now you can either let us reclaim our property or you'll find a decided decrease in cordial relations that your outfit enjoys throughout the world. Doesn't sound like much of a choice to make. We go the easy way and it'll be a good photo op for you mutants. We go the hard way and a lot of doors are gonna be slammed in your faces."

"I think I'll go with option C," Green Lantern said before the coloring of his costume changed from green to an indigo color.

In the blink of an eye a fiery staff construct formed of the same color as his changed costume, with a focal point of energy forming at the top. The soldiers were moving to point all their barrels at the man, but by then it was too late because a second later the pod holding the artificial weapon of the Weapon Plus program vanished in a flash of indigo light.

"You have five seconds to tell me where you sent it." Beret growled, not liking the way things were going for him.

"The sun," Green Lantern said, sounding completely unafraid. "By now it's burning up into nothingness."

 _Teleportation?_ she thought with significant amazement. _And quite a significant distance at that. I wonder if he can do that with the guns. It would certainly make this so much easier._

"That was a big mistake, son," Beret said, sounding quite put out. "You've just caused a lot of trouble for your mutant friends here."

"They're not friends," Green Lantern said in an honest, no nonsense tone of voice. "I've never met them before tonight. Right, everyone?"

All of them either nodded their heads or vocally said 'yes' in response and this only soured Beret's mood even further.

"Feel free to try to prove otherwise, buddy," Green Lantern said, sounding confident that he had the man over a barrel. "Go through your surveillance photos and footage, go through your hacked files and double check your spy's reports. You won't find a single shred of evidence to prove that X-Corporation knew anything about me prior to tonight."

 _He has just made an enemy,_ she thought based on Beret's expression. _Nevertheless he looks as though he can handle it._

"And if that's not enough for you then maybe you'll wonder just how secure your 'World' is and what I could do to it if properly provoked," Green Lantern said with a hint of double meaning. "Do you think your bosses are going to want you to risk their entire investment over something like this?"

For a while it looked like the commanding officer of the soldiers planned to make good on his threat but then his walkie-talkie beeped, causing the man to put it to his ear.

"Yes, sir?" Beret asked, pressing the transmission button.

She couldn't hear the chatter but she didn't need to since Beret was riled enough by what'd happened that his poker face had cracks in it.

"Are you certain, sir?" Beret asked, sounding like he didn't approve of what he'd been told. "We can't just let this slide."

Whatever the man on the other end had to say next definitely left a bad taste in Beret's mouth but she knew a person who was about to fold when she saw one.

"Understood, sir," Beret said before giving a hand signal that caused his men to lower their weapons. "Okay, men, our orders have changed. We'll recover what's left of our property and then evac. MOVE OUT!"

No one on the rescue team let their guard down, though, and it was not until the soldiers were well out of sight that the tension finally faded from the immediate area.

"Yeh sure are mental ya are," Theresa said with a grin of amusement. "Playin' hardball with 'em like that."

"Well, with military types deterrents are usually a pretty safe bet," Green Lantern said as green once more became the dominant color of his costume. "They do it with nukes and I do it with my ring and with the implication that I know where their monster making lab is located."

"Making them think…? You mean you don't know where it is?" she asked, realizing that some of what the man had said had been a bluff.

"My friend managed to find several references to a place called 'The World' but wasn't able to get exact coordinates," Green Lantern replied, turning to look at her. "Still, I figured after seeing what I can do to one of their toys and hearing me say things I shouldn't know, it'd be enough to get them to back down. Looks like I was right."

"Remind me never to play poker with you." Rictor said with an impressed look on his face.

"Done. Well, I gotta go," Green Lantern said as an energy field surrounded his body before he levitated a bit into the air. "It was nice to meet you all and I hope we can do this again sometime. Seeya!"

With that the mystery man shot through the hole and disappeared from sight before anyone could ask him any questions or try to follow him. It'd certainly be an eventful debriefing with Professor Xavier later but not a negative one since it looked like they made it through the experience with no deaths or serious injuries. She'd still feel better once the doctors at the local hospitals gave every one of the civilians a look, along with a few of Doctor McCoy's gadgets to cover things no normal hospital had any experience in. She knew nothing about Green Lantern's abilities or his allies so she had no way of knowing if the civilians had truly been cured or if it just looked that way. Until she had proof that this was more than just a fancy lightshow, she'd reserve judgment concerning just how genuine the new hero was.

She hoped that her suspicions were unfounded because the world could always use another hero, especially one who didn't seem to care that he'd been working with mutants.

_**Two Days Later**_

 _ **Approaching Atlanta, Georgia**_

 _ **Xander's POV**_

 _MAN it's been a busy two days,_ he thought as he directed his flight in the direction of the Johnson home. _It was just one thing after another._

What'd started out as a light patrol of Earth had spiraled into two days of going from one side of the planet to the other, helping wherever there was some kind of trouble he could help with. In some cases it was a natural disaster like a mudslide or a volcanic eruption and in other cases it was the old criminal favorite called a bank robbery. In most cases the people he helped had been grateful for his help but there had been a few times when the country had scrambled their fighter jets and attempted to shoot him down. Fortunately for him he could go invisible or fly far faster than them, so all he'd had to do was switch on the proverbial afterburners and they ate his glowing green dust. Still, he had to shake his head at what the big wigs of those countries were thinking since he'd only been trying to help their people out of tight spots. He supposed it was just the usual military and political paranoia when it came to things they didn't understand and automatically classifying them as threats.

 _I just hope they get a clue soon enough that I'm on their side,_ he thought as he saw the street he needed to be at. _It'd be a real pain to be in the middle of helping people only to have them start shooting at me._

Setting down in an appropriately hidden spot, he quickly switched back to his civilian attire before stepping out onto the sidewalk and resuming his journey to Marcus Johnson's house.

"So I ask myself 'why would my buddy Marcus, someone with the potential to go far in the military, suddenly resign his commission?'" a voice said behind him along with the click that could only have come from a gun being cocked. "I go to ask him in person but he's remarkably tight lipped about the whole thing. Says I wouldn't believe him even if he told me the whole story. Also gave me some crap answer about it being top secret. So I decide to stake out his place for a few days to see if I can spot anyone suspicious and here you are, Mister Superhero. Now are you going to tell me what I want to know or am I gonna have to see how effective a nine millimeter round is on you?"

"Before we get to the answering I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me how you spotted me coming in, would you?" he asked, not particularly concerned since, even if the bullet made it past his auto-shield, the upgrades Lianna had given him would keep him going.

"Let's just say I know some people with some sweet surveillance gear that were willing to part with a few pieces for a week or so," the man behind him replied, sounding quite satisfied with the results. "Now start talking or I start shooting."

"No problem but let's let the Johnson's in on the story, 'kay?" he asked honestly, figuring it'd be best to tell the tale only once. "Marcus already knows most of the basics already so that'd leave only you and Missus Johnson to be let in on the truth."

"You're not taking one more step towards Marcus until I say so," the man behind him said, sounding like he truly believed he could force the truth out.

 _I understand that this guy is just looking out for his friend but I've got a schedule to keep,_ he thought with a bit of irritation before he brought his willpower into play.

With the speed of light a dome of energy surrounded the rough area where he believed the man to be and it was strong enough to take an artillery shell without giving way.

"Just so you know I wouldn't recommend firing your gun now. Ricochets can be a real bitch." He turned around to see who exactly wanted answers so insistently.

What he saw was a blonde haired man who looked to be only a little older than Marcus Johnson was dressed in casual clothes and holding a nice looking gun in his hand. At first he thought that the man was a spook, given the shades he had on, but then he considered the fact that he was wearing black shades caused him to dismiss the thought. It was far more likely that the guy was just one of Marcus' army buddies with a serious distrust of strangers and perhaps superheroes in particular, so he'd keep things civil for the time being.

"Now let's go see the Johnson family and get this whole mess resolved," he said before willing his ring to lift the man off the street and surround him with an emerald sphere.

Between the time he finished saying that and the time he arrived on the front doorstep of the Johnson household the man tried punching, kicking and headbutting the sphere to break it. While he couldn't help but shake his head at the futility of it, he had to respect the 'I will not give up' attitude the guy was going with. Then again he supposed that in the military 'give up' wasn't something that came to them easily and neither did they like to lose as long as there was a chance at victory.

In any case it was time to get on with his business so he knocked on the door and waited for someone inside to answer it.

A minute later the door opened to reveal his first potential recruit and he could tell the guy wanted to know why one of his friends was floating behind him in an energy sphere.

"You're friend here wanted some private time to talk to me but, since I'm on something of a schedule, I decided to bring him along so we can get this all out at once," he explained, jerking his head in the direction of the blonde guy. "So shall we take this inside? I'd hate for the neighbors to get strange ideas and call the cops on us."

"Point. Come in," Marcus said before stepping aside to allow entry.

"FYI? Unless you have a mirror that covers the door and you check it ahead of time, NEVER verbally invite someone into your home," he said, figuring that he might as well give out that little bit of info. "There are some nasty things out there and one of them can't enter your home unless you verbally invite them in."

The recruit didn't seem to know how to take that so he just nodded as he walked by, his 'follower' floating forward a few feet behind him. Once he heard the door close he allowed the sphere to dissipate, causing the blonde friend of Marcus Johnson to drop to the floor with a thump.

"You couldn't have just set him down nicely?" Marcus asked even as his friend grumbled a bit, getting up from the floor.

"He pointed a gun at me," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't like it when people point guns at me."

"You're bulletproof and you don't like people pointing guns at you?" Marcus asked, a bit of disbelief in his voice.

"I don't like people who point guns at me because it'll just cause their shots to ricochet and either hurt or kill innocent people close by," he said, withholding the fact that it was only due to the ring that he was bulletproof.

A nod was all he got in return before the three of them relocated to the living room where Marcus' mother was waiting for him, a serious look on her face. It looked like she wasn't any more in favor of her son giving up his military career on the word of some strange 'white boy' offering a mysterious job. He couldn't blame her because he'd probably react the same way if some stranger came to Sunnydale to convince Willow to throw away her lifelong goal for some unknown job.

"So, Mister Johnson… I've heard from your pal here that you've resigned your commission in the military but I'd like to hear it straight from you," he said, turning to the recruit. "Have you reached a decision regarding my job offer?"

"I have. I accept your job offer and, like Phil told you, I've resigned my commission as you stipulated when we talked last," Marcus said with the utmost seriousness and resolve. "Whenever you're ready to start with the training, I'm ready."

"BEFORE you go and do that I want the whole truth about what my boy is going to be up to," Missus Johnson said in a tone he'd heard from Missus Summers when would not take no for an answer. "I checked around and your 'business' does not exist and neither does your boss."

 _Definitely ex-spook,_ he thought remembering his previous hunch about the woman. _Guess I shouldn't be surprised that she managed to dig out the truth in just three days._

"That okay with you, Marcus? Telling them EVERYTHING?" he asked, figuring it was the recruit's right to decide how much or how little his friends and family would know about his new job.

"I keep no secrets from my friends and family," Marcus replied, making it clear he considered that the absolute truth.

"Alright. Just remember, you two, that what you hear from here on out is something best kept a secret unless you want every government and arms manufacturer gunning for Marcus," he said, looking at Phil and Missus Johnson respectively. "Understand?"

"What? You gonna give him some futuristic ray gun that can atomize an entire city or something?" Phil asked, sounding like he didn't believe his friend could get into that much trouble.

"Not a ray gun," he replied with a smile before he willed his uniform into existence. "A ring."

Seeing the look of shock on Missus Johnson's face mirrored on Phil's, he could only presume that whatever tech he'd borrowed hadn't given him enough details. Probably just monitored for flying people or movement in secluded and therefore suspicious spots in the neighborhood or something like that.

Deciding to take advantage of their shock to pour the necessary information into their heads, he began to give both of them the cliff notes version of what the Green Lantern Corps was, what the responsibilities of a member were and how he along with whoever wound up being his partner were responsible for an entire sector of space.

"So basically he'd be a space cop?" Phil asked after the summary was finished.

"Half law enforcement and half peace keeping force, actually," he replied, covertly evaluating how the two were reacting to the information. "The goal of my predecessors was to bring law and order to the galaxy."

"And if people tell your Corps to go take a flying leap?" Missus Johnson asked, not sounding negative about the job merely thorough in her line of inquiry.

"If a specific sector of space unanimously votes to ban the Corps from operating in that area, we'll leave them to their own devices except under certain circumstances. Like if they're all war mongering empires that think they can do whatever they please, at the very least we'll oppose them if they try something outside of their sector," he replied, having thought of such possibilities. "If there are signs that there are residents in that sector that oppose the ruling body or are being mistreated then we offer to relocate them elsewhere if they're small enough in number. If they in fact represent the majority of the population and they're being oppressed by the people in power, we'd offer what assistance we can."

This seemed to strike the listeners as reasonable but he decided to go one step further.

"Just to give you a better idea, here're a few laws written in the Book of Oa by my predecessors that I plan on keeping around for now," he said before generating a simple screen with the top ten laws. "Law number one: the protection of life and liberty within the assigned sector. Law number two: Noninterference with a planet's culture, political structure or its population's collective will. Law number three: Acting within local laws and obeying the local authority within reason. Law number four: Taking no action against anyone or anything until they are proven to be a threat against life and liberty."

He continued rattling off the laws that he'd left in the Book of Oa after reviewing the ones left behind by the Guardians and throwing out the ones he didn't agree with. Laws like obeying the Guardian's orders without question he tossed out since, in the current situation, he'd be the one in the position of Guardian and he didn't agree with blind obedience. Sure, there had to be some compliance in a peace keeping or law enforcing organization but he was fine with discussing matters with his subordinates so long as time wasn't against them. He had no desire to be elevated up to some god-like status or to run the show like a tyrant. In his mind he wanted it to be like how it was with the Scoobies, just with the efficiency and discipline such a large organization would require in order to function properly.

"Marcus will be in charge of sector two eight one four along with a partner I'll be choosing within the next few weeks. If for some reason a crisis happens in this sector of space that's more than two Green Lanterns can handle, they can call for backup from neighboring sectors so long as there isn't something big going down there as well," he explained, moving on from the laws to more relevant information. "There are roughly thirty-eight planets in this sector that the two Lanterns will be responsible for but don't worry, not all of them are home to sentient life or life of any kind. The only time you'll have to worry about the uninhabited planets is if they're connected to a case you're currently working on."

"And if the crook I'm after tries to hide in a sector that wants nothing to do with the Green Lantern Corps?" Marcus asked, following that line of thought.

"Try to negotiate peacefully for them to hand the crook over, argue that the being is more trouble than they're worth, and, if they still refuse to turn them over, we go to 'aggressive negotiations'," he replied with a bit of a grin on his face.

"And 'aggressive negotiations' would be?" Phil asked, sounding like he had an idea what it meant already.

"If the opposing force is something you can handle solo you charge in and get the criminal yourself, doing as little damage to lives and property as you can in the process. If the opposing force is too powerful for you to handle solo, call for backup until the number of GLs is sufficient to go in and get the criminal," he replied, having already thought this through. "If it turns out that the opposing force is so strong that even the entire Corps at the time wouldn't be enough to successfully retrieve the criminal, we'd approach any alien races we have ties with to see if they'd be willing to help. If not military help then putting economic and diplomatic sanctions on the sector as well as whatever other bureaucratic pressure can be brought forth to force the turning over of the criminal."

"You'd be willing to go that far just for one criminal?" Missus Johnson asked, sounding like she thought it might be going a bit too far.

"We cannot let criminals think that all they need to do in order to escape justice is seek sanctuary in sectors that refuse to recognize the authority of the Corps," he said firmly in order to show his resolve. "It must be made clear that they cannot escape justice no matter where they go."

"Are you saying you'd be willing to go to war just to apprehend one criminal?" Phil asked, definitely thinking that such an act would be overkill.

"Depends on the criminal. If it's just some two bit bank robber or smuggler, probably not," he replied after a moment's consideration. "However if it's a war criminal or someone whose actions could have global or galactic repercussions if they're allowed enough time to prepare, then yes. Much like in any combat situation it all comes down to the numbers: will more lives be lost leaving the criminal be than going in to get them? If leaving the criminal to their own devices leads to the deaths of millions of people down the line then I'll do whatever needs to be done to apprehend them sooner rather than later."

It was harsh and not very heroic but it was also reality as far as he was concerned.

Situations where you never have to kill and can adhere to some ideal hero code of conduct without repercussions was stuff best left to comic books and cartoons.

When you got down to it, all you could do was ask yourself a single question: what are you prepared to sacrifice to accomplish your mission?

Looking at the three people before him, he tried to guess whether or not what he'd told them might have been enough to get Marcus to change his mind about joining. From his point of view he hadn't said anything wrong but, like a wise Jedi Master once said, 'a great many of the truths we cling to depend entirely on our own personal point of view'. Just because he didn't find anything wrong with what he'd said that didn't mean that Phil and the Johnson's would see things the same way.

"I'm in," Marcus said, sounding like what he'd been told had only confirmed that he'd made the right choice.

"Are you sure, Marcus?" Missus Johnson asked, sounding like she still had doubts.

"Yeah. It'll pretty much be what I'd planned on doing in the military except on a much bigger scale," Marcus replied with a nod. "Besides, anything that'll make this planet and you even a little bit safer is something I'm not going to pass up."

Thus, with a satisfied grin, he willed the recruit's ring into existence and ordered it to slide onto the man's middle finger.

"Then, Marcus Johnson of Earth, welcome to the Green Lantern Corps," he declared before extending his hand for a shake.

When it was taken a feeling of accomplishment warmed his insides as he realized that he'd taken the first of many steps to accomplishing the task set forth by Ganthet.

It was a good feeling.

 _ **Twenty Minutes Later, Missus Johnson's POV**_

 _Maybe I'm overthinking things,_ she thought as she watched the two dimming points of emerald light in the sky.

On the surface 'Alan Harrington's' offer seemed like the offer of a lifetime and definitely something greater than could be achieved through the American military. However that wasn't necessarily a good thing since it also meant facing greater threats than would normally be encountered as a standard soldier. Maybe it was her old CIA training talking but any organization, whether it was earthbound or in space, that didn't have a proven track record of being trustworthy made her brain itch. It didn't smell like a Hydra front operation since she was fairly sure that if they had rings like the one Harrington gave her son, the world would be in a lot worse shape.

That didn't mean the space cop group were clean, though, because even if she was retired from the agency that didn't mean she still didn't hear a few things from colleagues still in the business. She knew that there were off world threats every bit as bad, if not worse, than anything homegrown but that thus far the cape and mask crowd had managed to keep them from messing up Earth too badly. However the more she thought things over, the more she wanted to do her own background check on this 'Green Lantern Corps'. If it came up clean she'd leave it be and support her son in his decision to be a member. If, however, it came up suspect or dirty, she'd confront him with the evidence in an effort to make him resign.

If Mister Harrington had a problem with that, she'd make sure she had some 'persuasion' on hand to make him accept the resignation.

Walking over to the phone, she dialed a number that wasn't listed in anywhere and required she navigate a tree options in order to reach the department she wanted.

"This is S-Division, what is the nature of your call?" spoke a voice she didn't recognize from the other end.

"I'd like a background check on an Enterprise Tertiary organization." She remembered the aliases and codenames like she'd never left.

"Name?" asked the voice on the other side of the phone call.

"Green Lantern Corps. Claims to be a rule enforcer group."

"Understood. We will inform you once the background check has been completed." The connection was cut.

She didn't know how long it'd take to finish but she hoped no more than a month since in that amount of time she expected that her son will have stumbled or been dragged into some mess of trouble or other. Don't get her wrong, she was proud of what her boy had accomplished and the fact that he'd been all set to enter Ranger school had only made her prouder. However the boy was just a little too much like his father when it came to trouble, so she couldn't help but worry at times.

 _Still, maybe I am overthinking things,_ she thought as her mind returned to its previous train of thought on its own.

 _ **The Skies, Heading Towards the West Coast**_

 _ **Marcus's POV**_

"So where are we going?" he asked even as he did the odd barrel roll and loop de loop.

"My hometown," 'Alan' replied with a half grin on his face. "It's a small town in California and since there's a desert nearby, it'll be a good place to get your training started. Plus I plan on checking in on some friends of mine to make sure nothing happened while I was away."

"You're certainly taking an… informal… approach to things," he said, a bit surprised that things weren't starting out like boot camp.

"Well the way I see it, your military training has done most of the body work being a member of the Corps requires, so all you really need practice with his using the ring," Alan said, not looking back from his lead position. "Good thing there are no shortage of targets back home and for the more explosive stuff the desert should be far away from civilians that we can get that part of your training done without interruption."

"You make it sound like your hometown is gangbanger central," he said half-jokingly as he looked at the scenery go by below.

"You're not too far off the mark there, Marcus," Alan said, sounding completely serious. "But you'll have to wait until we get there before you'll believe the reason why."

That was certainly an odd statement if ever there was one.

Still, he was the recruit and Alan was the recruiter so, until he did something completely off the wall, he'd play along. Besides, it wasn't like he was so immature that he'd throw the ring back in the guy's face for so small a reason as talking odd.

"Are we going to get some space training, too?" he asked, remembering a brief desire to join NASA.

"Walk before you try to run, poozer," Alan replied, sounding a bit like his drill instructor back in boot. "Down here the only things capable of giving you trouble are the hero teams and black ops types with hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of hardware strapped to their backs. Up there… whole different story."

"And you don't think our training is going to bring either of those groups in to investigate?" he asked, figuring explosions and light shows of the type the rings were capable of would definitely provoke a response.

"There've been plenty of things that've happened in my home town and not a single cape has shown up to save the day," Alan replied a bit acidly. "As for the Black Ops crowd, if they haven't picked up on the fact that Sunnydale isn't your ordinary town by now they're either blind, incompetent or crooked."

Hearing all of that, he had to wonder just what Sunnydale was like that it could cover for a pair of capes training but at the same time have stuff happen that should've brought in the cavalry but hadn't. It gave him something to think about as he continued to practice flying maneuvers while keeping up with Alan.

It was about half an hour later that they reached their destination and began their descent towards an abandoned building, landing on the side that faced the road going out of town. Again he watched as, with a line of light from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, Alan changed his clothes from the Green Lantern uniform to casual street clothes. This sparked another question he'd had ever since the ring had automatically changed him into the uniform after it'd slipped itself onto his finger.

"Are there any regs about the uniform I should know about?" he asked as he tried to use his willpower to follow his superior's lead.

It didn't happen as smoothly as he'd have preferred but it still came to a close without any trouble.

"The only things you need to keep is the color scheme and the Green Lantern symbol," Alan replied as he walked around the corner of the building and onto the sidewalk. "Aside from that you have complete freedom to design your costume as you see fit. Same thing goes with the mask. I plan on keeping my civilian ID a secret here on Earth but I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you want to go about the job mask free or not."

He was quiet for a minute or two as he considered whether or not he wanted to wear a mask or not while he was on duty. Wanting to keep his civvie life private was a good reason in favor of the mask but it felt like hiding to him. He was going to be helping people with the ring he had, saving lives, so there was no real reason to hide who he was if he was doing good deeds. Soldiers didn't wear them most of the time. Sure, they wore camo face paint when needed and he guessed that some black ops people might have to hide their faces for deniability reasons, but he'd never really planned on going into that line of work. When most of your records were blacked out, you had entirely too much leeway with how you went about accomplishing mission objectives. Sure, he guessed that some black ops operatives probably managed to stay righteous but, when the brass only cared about results or deniability, most guys stopped caring about such things.

In the end he decided to compromise.

"I'll stick with the mask until everyone knows I'm here to help, not hurt," he said casually, looking about the immediate area.

"It's your call. Your ring's programmed so that only you or another member of the Corps can use it so someone won't be able to just take it off your finger, slip it onto their own and start using it," Alan said, looking over his shoulder partially. "That, of course, won't stop some of the more resourceful among them from trying to analyze it and duplicate it for their own ends. Just promise you'll do what you can to keep that from happening. The power of a Green Lantern ring in the wrong hands… not a pretty picture."

"I hear that," he said, being able to picture all too easily how bad it could get.

Even if he hadn't seen everything the jade ring could do, he'd seen enough that he could extrapolate on how it could be used in the wrong hands. Being able to produce energy constructs meant that you could replicate virtually any weapon you had a strong familiarity with, or even just create a giant Godzilla construct to crush everything underfoot. He didn't want to even contemplate what someone who was truly sadistic would do with a ring that could bring their imaginings into the real world.

It was about five minutes later that his curiosity got him to open his mouth again.

"Where're we goin'?" he asked, taking in the small town sights.

"A shop where my friends hang out," Alan replied while keeping his gaze straight ahead. "They'll know where the best action'll be tonight."

"Action? I thought we'd be training, not partying." He was really wondering if the guy in front of him had any idea how things were supposed to work.

"Oh, we'll be training, alright!" Alan declared with a lopsided smile on his face. "The nightlife here's just a little 'different' from other cities. It's the reason why most people stay indoors after sunset."

What the heck did he mean by that?

"Oh, and FYI, my real name's Xander Harris," Xander said before turning back to look ahead of him. "Figured you might as well know since one of my friends is going to say it for sure before I can clue them in on my alias. Besides, I want the Green Lantern Corps to be built on trust. That can't happen if it starts off with a lie."

That was a sentiment he could get behind.

 _ **Xander's POV**_

 _Hopefully nothing too big will be happening tonight,_ he thought as he continued to navigate the familiar route to Giles' new business. _I want to break the newbie in slowly. A vamp nest maybe, or a demon capable of taking a reasonable pounding._

Sure, he knew that with the power a Green Lantern ring packed the number of things that could take hits from it were few unless the wielder specifically held back, but he was sure there'd be SOMETHING capable of being used as a training dummy. He figured it'd be the perfect place to start Marcus' construct training as well as perhaps his barriers since both would need to be pretty good before the former soldier could do solo patrols.

Most of the man's training had already been handled by the military in terms of physical conditioning, hand-to-hand combat, weapons training and other skills. All that was really lacking was familiarity with the ring and what it could do but, once that was done and Marcus incorporated it into how he fought, he'd be able to move on to the next recruit Lianna found.

It was his short term plan to locate eight potential Green Lanterns, train them up to the point where they could handle most things solo or be the equivalent of someone fresh from boot camp. Once that was done he'd have them locate eight recruits of their own from the various sectors that currently didn't have a pair of GLs to call their own. Once they went past fifty members he'd start reviewing each of their files to see which ones would be best to fill the various positions that were currently vacant on Oa. After all, they couldn't just spend all their time recruiting. They needed to do actual patrolling and only when the bureaucratic and training side of the Corps was running with at least a skeleton crew. True, Lianna could probably hand most of the proverbial paperwork side of things being an A.I., but he didn't think it'd be fair to dump all that work on her just because she wasn't flesh and blood. Besides, it might turn out that some of the recruits were better at that side of things than combat and that'd solve a lot of his personnel issues.

 _I know Lianna's scoping out the universe for species that wouldn't necessarily be Green Lanterns but have the skills to do the non-combat roles, but I'm a little uncomfortable about that,_ he thought as his soldier memories and common sense pointed out some cons. _Until we have a better idea of which species are trustworthy and which ones aren't, letting any of them know Oa's location would be dangerous, never mind letting them work there._

After all history had proven that not all races would welcome the coming of the Green Lantern Corps and, just like on Earth, they'd covet the power each ring possessed. It was one of the reasons why he'd had Lianna rig it so that no sentient that wasn't registered as a member of the Corps could use the rings, even if they came into possession of one. He'd also had her rig the power battery's each Lantern would possess so that they'd automatically shunt themselves into their pocket dimensions if anyone unauthorized tried to use them or tried to figure out how they worked. It might complicate things down the road but he took his responsibilities as Lantern Prime very seriously and that meant ensuring that no GL tech got into the wrong hands.

Then there was always THAT issue Lianna had told him about.

Letting GL tech, especially the green energy, get into the hands of others would be the first step towards THAT happening.

No way was he going to let THAT come to pass.

Turning the corner, the 'Magic Shop' came into view but the odd thing was that there was a rather pricy looking car parked out front that he was reasonably sure no one in Sunnydale could afford. Sure, there were a couple of families in Sunnydale that could be considered 'rich' but wealth was relative to the place where you lived. A rich person in a small town like Sunnydale would be considered a pauper by some of the rich people who lived in the major American cities. While Cordy had brought to school many a pricy car, he was pretty sure that the car outside the 'Magic Shop' was well outside the price range of Sunnydale's rich unless they wanted to lose half their savings. Now some idiots might think to do that, believing that doing something like that would get them an invite to the class above them or make them seem more important, but it'd be a bad move. After all, paying a shit ton of money to get the car was bad enough but when you considered how much it'd cost to maintain such an expensive ride… the poor Sunnydale native would be bankrupt inside of two years.

 _I wonder who it is._

"Problem?" Marcus asked from behind him, sounding like he was ready for a fight if necessary.

"Not necessarily. Just that the car there is a little too pricy for this town," he replied as they arrived across the street from the 'Magic Shop'. "It could be nothing. It could be something. Keep your ring warm but don't let it go past a light glow."

He knew that such precision control might be beyond the ex-soldier's abilities, given how new he was to the ring, but it'd be a good exercise for him.

Crossing the street, he pushed open the 'Magic Shop' door hearing the familiar jingle of the bell hanging just above the doorframe and once inside with Marcus he took a look about the area. Most of the gang was present as expected but there were two people there as well that had him a bit on edge since they were definitely NOT locals. If their leather or PVC clothes weren't big enough hints then there was the fact that he recognized them from a news broadcast he'd seen once. Unless he was very much mistaken the man was one Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops of the X-Men, and the lady to the right of him was Emma Frost. He had no idea what her codename was but, considering how she was dressed, 'Modesty' probably wasn't it, nor was 'Humility'.

A nice piece of eye candy, though, and that was probably the point.

The minds of men were probably easier to break into if they were distracted by lust and the weaker among them were probably oh so easy to manipulate wearing an outfit like that as well. A few implied rewards here, some precision body language there and probably an entire wardrobe of revealing outfits would probably make any man putty in her hands mentally as well as physically. What had him on edge was that, if what he'd heard both on the news and via rumors were true, then she was also a telepath and that was a security risk. While part of his 'upgrades' as a result of Lianna's tinkering was improved mental strength, he doubted it'd do much good against someone of Frost's level. Besides that, he figured it was a pretty done deal that she'd be able to get into Marcus' mind, so it looked like he'd just have to hope that she didn't find either of them interesting enough to scan or she had enough morality in her to keep whatever she learned to herself.

 _I make no promises… Lantern Prime._ came a female voice in his mind that sounded very arrogant and playful.

Considering the likewise cocky smirk on Frost's face, it didn't take a genius to figure out that it'd been her voice in his head.

He couldn't help but frown at a potential problem in the making.

"Xander! You're back!" Dawn said, rushing up and giving him a big hug.

Returning the hug with a smile, he released it after a few seconds but oddly enough Dawn kept the hug going for another five seconds before letting go.

"Yep. Needed a place to train the new recruit here and figured there was no end of target dummies in Sunnydale," he said with his smile in place.

"Can I come?" Dawn asked, sounding like she had a chance to go to a water park or a movie she really wanted to see.

"As long as your mom doesn't have any trouble with it, sure," he said, not forgetting that Dawn's body didn't match her actual age.

In a flash, metaphorically speaking, Dawn was behind the cashier counter of the store and using the phone to dial home.

"Is it truly wise to go looking for trouble, Xander?" Giles asked, sounding like he'd prefer a little more caution. "While I do not pretend to know everything about your… abilities, you should not allow yourself to become overconfident. All it would take would be to encounter something capable of turning your own abilities against you to make things problematic."

"Don't worry, Giles. We're only going to go after dust buster food," he said, confident that they had nothing to worry overly about. "If something strong in the mojo shows up we'll pull back… unless, of course, they're doing something truly horrible, in which case I'll give you guys a call before doing what needs to be done."

"If it isn't too much of a problem, Mister Harris, we could come along as well," Emma Frost said, sounding like she had ulterior motives. "It will be beneficial to see Miss Summers use her abilities in order to determine where she needs help and, if you run into something 'strong in the mojo', an extra pair of fighters could prove beneficial."

"True," he said as a position began to form in his mind. "But call me Xander. Whenever someone says Mister Harris I start looking for my father and I'd rather not be compared to him in any way, shape or form."

"Very well, Xander it is then." Miss Frost said with a nod of understanding.

"Mom says I can go as long as things don't get too dangerous!" Dawn declared before briskly walking back over to his position.

"Like I told Giles, it'll just be some dust buster food for tonight. Nothing dangerous about them when you can do what we can," he said, glad that Dawn was happy. "So, G-Man? Any parts of town particular full of fang faces?"

Seeing the former Watcher wince at his much hated nickname, he grinned at the familiarity of it all and believed that as he had this to come home to he'd manage to get through anything.


	4. Beginner boot camp and rocky recruitment

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their creators and/or associated companies. I make no money from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my work. Therefore I would appreciate it if no legal action was taken against me. I can promise you that whatever you got from me wouldn't cover even a tenth of your legal fees.

 _ **Warehouse District, A Little While Later, Dawn's POV**_

"Alright, so, ground rules first," Xander said once they arrived at the most likely vamp lair in the area Giles specified. "Since both of you are a little wobbly with your constructs, we won't make this a free for all. I'll pen up the vamps inside a barrier and let them out one at a time. We'll tell'em that if they can make it past one or both of you, they can go free. All you have to do is practice making constructs until they no longer waver or until we run out of vamps."

"You're really going to let vampires go if they make it past us?" Marcus asked, sounding like he was against that. "What if they kill someone?"

"I said we'd tell them we would let them go if they made it past us." Xander's smile was malicious. "If Mister Summers here is willing to lend a hand, he can wait out here and when the 'winner' tries to bolt he can take care of them. No vamps are going to survive this encounter."

"You really hate'em, don't you? Vamps?" Marcus asked, sounding like he was thinking about the response.

"Yeah, I do. I'm not going to give you the whole story but suffice it to say they killed someone I considered a brother," Xander replied with a dark look. "They are corpse-inhabiting demons, completely without conscience of any kind who get a kick out of harming and killing human beings. I can't think of a single reason why they should be shown any mercy."

"When you put it like that, I can't either," Marcus said, sounding like he could see Xander's point of view.

"How about you two?" Xander said turning to Miss Frost and her cousin Scott. "Do you have any problems with this arrangement?"

"No, but my power's not very subtle," Scott replied tapping the side of his visor. "The vampires might pick up on your lie pretty quickly."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Vamps can be deeply stupid at times," Xander said with a shrug of indifference. "Even if they do figure it out, they'll either have to choose definitely getting dusted inside the building to possibly managing to get away from you outside the building. Certain death versus possible death. Which do you think they'll choose?"

"Once they realize the gap in power between the two sides?" Miss Frost asked rhetorically, a smug smile on her face. "They'll do whatever gives them a chance at survival."

"Pretty much," Xander said with a nod. "Well, let's get down to business. We'll wait until Mister Summers finds himself a good shooting point and then head in. Marcus? Dawn? Take the time to clear your head of any unnecessary thoughts. For beginners construct generation requires quite a bit of focus and willpower so the fewer distractions the better."

Taking what her future-boyfriend-and-husband said to heart, she closed her mind and began to order her thoughts so she could separate the useless junk from the stuff she'd need to keep in mind. It wasn't easy because, hey, she was a teenage girl, but if it meant she could impress Xander and look good taking down the vamps then she'd give it her all. Bit by bit she mentally grabbed the useless thoughts like what they'd be doing after they'd cleared out the vamp nest, the things she'd be doing in the future and the one that was the hardest her personal visions of the future. It was hard because, unlike six months ago, her dreams were a lot closer to becoming a reality than they had before. Now there was no way that her crush would be able to see her as being 'Buffy's kid sister' or just an innocent thirteen year old. And… as much as she wanted it to be otherwise, she reluctantly had to admit that PERHAPS she had to take some time to catch up to him in terms of maturity before making a move. After all, there'd be no point if his tastes were those of a twenty year old while hers were still those of a thirteen year old. Mature men only liked mature women, or at least mature men who didn't have icky thoughts that should get them arrested did.

 _If you accept our offer, young lady, I could help you with that,_ Miss Frost thought into her head even as Scott climbed up onto a nearby fire escape. _Not only does the Institute provide a full education as well as training for your powers, but there also electives for etiquette and refinement. Something for you to think on at least._

That was the other reason why she wanted to show her stuff to Xander in the warehouse.

Without her knowledge or consent, her mother had managed to get in contact with her cousin Scott and spilled the beans about her x-gene activating. It was already in the news how the Institute where he lived was a school for mutants to teach them how to master their power and receive an education at the same time, so she could see why her mother had decided to call. However she wasn't all that thrilled at the idea because it ruined her 'use training to seduce Xander' plan completely, since the Institute was over in Westchester, New York. Sure, he'd have no trouble flying there but there was no way being around other students was going to put him in the right frame of mind for what she wanted. He'd no doubt be uncomfortable being seen getting that close with her, even if she said she didn't particularly care if other people saw them, mostly because she was fairly certain that if he actually reciprocated her feelings, she'd be on cloud nine and completely oblivious to the real world.

She'd tried to come up with a non-Xander reason why she didn't want to go to the Institute but her mother had shot them all down and confronted her on the truth. According to her mother, training to control her power was something that needed to be taken seriously and that Xander wouldn't be able to properly apply himself as an instructor with all his other duties. Therefore, if he couldn't be her instructor, another one needed to be found and her mother was confident that the Institute fit the bill nicely, especially since there was no real tuition fee to speak of. Therefore, unless she came up with a brilliant reason to make Xander her instructor, she'd have no choice but to go to the Institute or suffer the wrath of mom until she did.

 _Enough of that!_ she thought harshly as she pushed all such thoughts from her mind. _If I have to go I'll just work my ass off and graduate as soon as possible! Then I'll be able to go with Xander wherever and make up for lost time._

 _So you have a goal and you're willing to do whatever it takes on your own terms,_ Frost thought into her head with a feeling of approval. _It's good to see someone willing to make the most of their potential. So many young people just coast along and only get serious when there's almost no time left to do so._

 _Must you eavesdrop on my thoughts?_ she thought opening her eyes to glare a bit at Miss Frost.

"I wasn't eavesdropping, dear girl," Miss Frost said with a smirk. "You were broadcasting your thoughts so loudly that even a weak telepath would've been able to hear them. Don't worry, though. One of the benefits of the Institute is that you'll either naturally develop psi-shields to keep your thoughts private or you can learn how to make them from someone such as myself."

"Okay! Are you two ready to go?" Xander asked, sounding like he was ready to get things started.

"Locked and loaded, sir," Marcus said, sounding very much like a soldier.

"All set, Xan!" she said with some enthusiasm in her voice.

"Then I guess it's only polite to knock first," Xander said with a smile on his face that implied his 'knocking' would be anything BUT polite.

The giant green fist that punched through the front doors of the warehouse confirmed that.

 _ **Two Hours Later, Outside the Summers Home, Marcus' POV**_

"Surprised that using the ring takes so much out of you?" Xander asked as they walked away from the Summers home.

"You could say that," he replied, feeling like he just gone through one of his drill instructor's penalty laps back at boot camp. "When you said we could will whatever we wanted into a construct, I thought it'd be as easy as breathing, but that's not what happened."

"That's mostly because people usually have so many background thoughts going around in their heads most of the time it creates interference making energy constructs harder to make," Xander said as they reached the sidewalk. "Amazing as it is to hear, using your ring to fly is easier because you don't need to picture anything in your head. All you do is will the ring to generate a field and then take you into the air. Still, both you and Dawn did pretty good for your first training session."

"Says the man who created four separate constructs at the same time once the vamps refused to exit your bubble to wipe them out," he said still a bit impressed at what his new boss could do.

After Xander had punched them a door they'd all gone in and, once they found the vamps, his employer didn't waste any time creating seven separate hand constructs to round them all up into a single containment bubble. From there he'd told the vamps in no uncertain terms that some of them would get dusted but that they'd all be given a chance to earn their freedom. After that a reasonably sized circle was carved via green beam into the floor of the warehouse and following that it was explained that if each 'contestant' could make it physically out of the circle, they could go free. Then, of course, came the other end of the arrangement, that if they failed they'd be promptly dusted, freeing up space for the next 'applicant'. Like a bunch of cocky flyboys the suckheads had been pretty sure they could make it out of such a circle and so once the first volunteer stepped forward the games began.

He'd been first up to bat and, with his ring primed with energy, he'd waited for the fang face to make the first move, but this proved to be a bit of a mistake. He'd been caught completely unprepared for the speed at which the corpse could move but, thanks to the speed of thought, he'd been able to send a tendril-like construct to wrap around the vampire's leg. Dragging the 'target dummy' back to the center of the circle he'd been a bit surprised when Xander had chosen to give the killer another chance but found out the reason a moment later.

His boss wanted him to try for something a little more complex than rope, as well as a bit more definition in the construct's appearance.

He hadn't had a problem with that and thought that, since he'd seen how fast the vamp could move, things would be more even. It came to him as a surprise then when the vamp had chosen to try to run past him rather than away, like it'd done the last time. Fortunately, while the surprise had slowed his response a bit, he'd recovered quicker and quickly created a brick wall for the vampire to slam into. Even though the ring had been generating the wall, he'd felt, in his mind, the impact and had reflexively increased the amount of willpower being used to keep the construct intact. At this second failure the vamp hadn't even been given time to say a word before a pair of scissors manifested and snipped its head off in one sharp movement.

It'd been a bit of a start seeing the vamp dust in front of him because, even with their protruding foreheads and fangs, his mind had been ready to write them off as mutants or a lab experiment.

Now that he knew vampires in fact existed, he was forced to reconsider all the stories he'd heard growing up and all the missing persons stories he'd seen in the newspapers.

How many of them had been killed or turned into vampires? Too many probably.

After the first five vamps, only two of which had managed to escape the circle, it'd been Dawn's turn to try to make constructs. With that girl it'd been easy to see that she was crushing on the Boss something terrible but the guy looked to be pretty clueless on that front. Either that or he had an issue with dating the sister of a friend but that didn't make a lot of sense. When the next vamp had been placed in the circle Dawn looked to be a little more used to how fast the vamps were but making constructs hadn't come easily to her. They were inconsistent when it came to their stability but the young woman definitely had a better imagination than him given the various forms her constructs took. In total she'd tried to make two animal constructs, one humanoid construct and two weapon constructs, with the first two types being the ones that'd turned out to be the most unstable of the five. Xander had explained that weapons were easier since they were just simple geometric shapes pieced together whereas living things were decidedly more complex in nature. That'd made sense to him so, when it came to be his turn again, he'd focused on inanimate objects for his constructs since he hadn't thought himself good enough to do living things by far.

In the end less than thirty percent of the vamps had managed to win their 'freedom' and those were promptly dealt with by Cyclops outside, but like the man had said his power wasn't subtle. Eventually the ones still in the dome caught on to the truth and refused to play along any further and had even made the mistake of calling Miss Frost a slutty dumb blonde. After that… between the woman who could turn into living diamond and his boss' ring slinging ability, the remaining vamps hadn't lasted more than a minute.

From there Cyclops and Miss Frost had gone back to their hotel room, leaving him and Xander to escort Dawn back to her home.

"Multi-tasking is an important part of being a GL," Xander said as they continued to walk down the sidewalk presumably to his place. "Even with a weapon as badass as your ring, you'll routinely wind up dealing with challenges where you have to deal with more than one thing at a time. While you could create a single construct that could deal with a number of targets at one time, sometimes each target will require a unique method to deal with them. It took me almost six months to make four stable constructs at the same time, never mind getting them to do what I wanted them to. Like any skill it just takes practice and determination."

"What's the most complex construct you ever made?" he asked, genuinely interested in finding out just how intricate constructs could get.

"Hmmmm… probably when I tried to make a completely life-like construct of She-Hulk," Xander replied after a moment's thought. "I didn't just try to make her look as real as possible but I also tried to make it so that she moved and acted just like the real thing. Lianna said I'd done a pretty good job but it was hard as hell keeping all the details running smoothly inside my head. I only managed to keep it going half decent for about three minutes before so many glitches showed up that it wasn't worth keeping around."

"Any particular reason you chose She-Hulk?" he asked, having a few ideas himself.

"Well, the fact that she's already green meant that I didn't have to worry about willing the correct skin tone into the construct," Xander replied with a half smirk at his cop out. "Other than that all I can say is that I like strong women and she's definitely one of the strongest."

"Can't argue that," he said, nodding in agreement with the statement.

"What about you?" Xander asked turning his head slightly. "Who'd you choose to do a construct of?"

 _He might be my boss but he talks just like one of the guys in the barracks,_ he thought before he replied. "There're a lot to choose from but I gotta say Storm from the X-Men would be my model of choice."

"I can tell you're a guy of excellent taste," Xander said with a tone of approval. "She's definitely easy on the eyes and that white hair of hers adds a certain exoticness to her looks."

"Got that right," he said with a smile. "I don't care what those bigots say about mutants, if Storm's the next stage of human evolution then we're definitely goin' in the right direction as a species. You know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah. Whenever one of those guys is on TV ranting about 'mutant menace' this and 'abominations' that, I just change the channel," Xander replied, sounding disgusted by the racists out there.

"Too bad I couldn't change the channel of some of the guys back at the barracks," he said remembering a few foul mouthed bigots in particular. "Still, I just ignored them when they went off on a rant. I didn't like'em but I did have to work with them, so I just let their words roll right off me."

"I'm guessing punching a few of them out cold was against regs?" Xander asked, sounding like that was what he'd likely have done.

"Yeah, but there were one or two times it was worth spending time in the brig to put them in their place," he replied, remembering those times fondly especially the bloody faces his fist had made.

"Well now that you're a GL, you'll have to be a little more careful who you decide to ass kick," Xander said, sounding a little concerned. "You won't just be dealing with Earth cultures in the Corps but alien ones as well. Your ring will have most of the basics stored in it and what it doesn't have is just a tight beam transmission from Lianna away. Whenever you have the time you should probably read up on the other species in sector two eight one four. It'd be a bad idea to accidentally cause a planetary accident because you wound up insulting the wrong sentient."

"How bad?" he asked, not quite sure how bad a planetary incident was.

"Let's just say you better hope they haven't reached the technological level needed for nukes," Xander replied with a look that implied that was not something he wanted.

He blinked at the idea of a species tossing nukes at him over a mistake concerning culture.

 _Guess I got some studying to do,_ he thought as he wondered just how many pages he'd have to commit to memory. _I wonder if there's a cliff notes version I can skim through._

He doubted it.

 _ **A Few Days Later**_

 _ **Inside the Summers Home, Evening**_

 _ **Sunnydale, California**_

 _ **Xander's POV**_

"Sorry about making you take the trip so soon, Dawnie," he said as he watched the green girl descend the steps with two suitcases in hand. "Lianna says she has a line on another potential recruit. Much as I'd like to stick around a while longer, I've got my obligations."

"I understand, Xan," Dawn said with only a trace of disappointment. "Still, I appreciate you being all mover guy with my things. It'll definitely make things easier moving into the Institute."

"I know you wanted me as your personal tutor with your powers but you deserve a teacher who's there all the time, not zipping around the galaxy every other day and not coming back for weeks," he said with true honesty even though he understood where the young lady was coming from. "I'll pop back whenever I have the time and once I've finished setting the foundation for the Corps, I should have a lot more free time."

He could tell that this last bit of news brightened Dawn's mood a bit but he could tell she still wished that she could go with him.

Looking to the living room, he could see both Buffy and Missus S looking a little emotional at the thought of the youngest member of the family moving out. Normally they'd have at least another four years before they'd have to confront something like this but, with the changes Dawn had undergone, things had accelerated somewhat. The girl who was a newbie teen mentally couldn't fit in with others in her age group both due to the rapid aging of her body but also due to her appearance. Both were symptoms many attributed to being a mutant or a freak of some kind and he'd seen enough in his travels as a GL and in the media to know what'd happen if Dawn tried to go to school like normal. The odds of her old friends accepting her back like nothing was wrong were slim and the probability for some rather nasty bullying was quite high indeed. He'd heard some anti-mutant types blathering on TV and since kids often inherit the views of their parents it wasn't impossible that Dawn would come under fire from classmates whose parents were bigots.

He didn't want Dawn to go through something like that.

At least at the Institute she'd be with people who'd understand her and not shun her because of her differences.

"Now remember, young lady, just because I won't be there doesn't mean you can go wild and act out," Missus S said with her usual commanding mother tone. "I expect you to be on your best behavior at the Institute and call at least once a week. Miss Frost has already promised to keep me apprised of your grades and the progress of your ability training."

"MMOOOMM! You make it sound like your sending me into rehab or something!" Dawn exclaimed angrily at her mother's words.

Everyone chuckled a bit at this since it was kinda funny seeing something you'd expect from a thirteen year old being done by someone in an eighteen year old's body.

"Okay, okay! Just… be careful, okay?" Missus S said as she hugged her daughter. "Don't try to do too much too quickly. Even if you're in an eighteen year old's body, you're still young with a long life ahead of you. So don't try to learn four years worth of information in a single year, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Dawn said, no doubt realizing that this was just her mother's way of coping with her going away.

A series of goodbyes was delivered by everyone before he picked up all the boxes that'd already been brought downstairs, along with both Dawn and the suitcases she held with his ring. With a slight burst of speed he took to the sky with Dawn voicing her excitement all the way since this was her first time airborne. He was tempted to do a few loop-de-loops and other things that she'd probably get a rush out of but he didn't want to risk damaging any of the contents of the boxes that were breakable. Instead he used his ring to get a proper bearing on the location of the Institute and then set a course before upping his speed so that they could get there before it got too late. As it was they'd arrive a little after midnight due to the time zone difference but Miss Frost had told Missus S that someone would be waiting up to greet them.

"Do you think that I'll be able to fly like this on my own one day?" Dawn asked, sounding like she was riding an adrenaline high.

"Probably. You've already proven you can lift objects with your constructs, so lifting yourself wouldn't be that much of a stretch," he replied as the ground passed by beneath them. "Still, you should probably just start with hovering in the beginning and then floating yourself from one side of the room to the other before you try to do an F-15 impersonation."

"Yeah, yeah, baby steps," Dawn said with a roll of her eyes at being told something so obvious.

"I know it's not what you want to hear but it's for the best," he said, trying to make her understand. "I don't want to find out that you tried to set a new altitude record only to set the biggest splat record instead."

Looking back at her, he could see that his words were sinking in but that old Summers fire was keeping her from giving in completely.

"So who's this new recruit Lianna wants you to interview?" Dawn asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

"It's a girl this time around and, according to Lianna, she's also a mutant," he replied, bringing up a green screen in front of both of their faces with the relevant information. "According to the file her name is Jubilation Lee and apparently she used to be a student of Miss Frost."

"Really!?" Dawn exclaimed in surprise at the odd turn of events.

"Yep. Lianna hasn't been able to find a current address so that probably means she's staying at a friend or relative's place. Once I drop you off I'll head to the last town that she was spotted walking down the street in and start looking around there."

"Where she was last seen walking?" Dawn asked, sounding a little surprised. "What, Lianna has access to traffic cameras or something?"

"Through my ring she can access any wireless network or transmission system on the same continent and, if she feels like it, she could probably bounce her connection off a few satellites," he replied with a grin. "She might've been made thousands of years ago but she's still light years ahead of what's here on Earth. I'm pretty sure she could pull a Skynet on us so long as she had a ring to route her signal through."

"And you're not worried about her doing this WHY?" Dawn asked, sounding seriously worried that nukes might start flying at any second.

"Well, remember that even though she's an A.I. with all the qualifications of sentience, she's also had it programmed into her that she's to protect life and liberty," he replied, not worried in the least about getting nuked. "It'd take something pretty big to make her go against the mandate of the GL Corps."

"I guess… I'm just uncomfortable with the idea of there being an A.I. capable of nuking Earth into oblivion," Dawn said, voicing her discomfort openly.

"Understandable but if things ever went that bad, I'd will my ring to self-destruct first," he said trying to put her at ease.

Though that'd depend on how much influence Lianna could exert on his ring. If she could somehow revoke his authorization or prevent his willpower from affecting it, then they'd all pretty much be screwed.

"Emergency alert! Lantern Prime this is a level five alert!" came Lianna's voice from his ring and it sounded upset.

Immediately the screens he'd created to show Jubilation Lee's information changed to Lianna's face and her expression matched her tone completely.

"In an effort to aid you in your efforts in recruiting Miss Lee I have been accessing various cameras throughout the towns and cities she was positively identified as being in," Lianna explained even as a micro screen popped up in the top right corner showing a city map. "Until five minutes ago I had nothing but then I hit a lucky break. I caught an image from a traffic camera in Brooklyn and after both enlarging as well as enhancing it, I found her."

"Well that's good, isn't it?" he asked, not understanding the need for a level five alert.

"It would be except that she was being physically forced into a vehicle by men in strange clothes along with several others one of whom I positively identified as a teammate of Miss Lee," Lianna replied, not calming down in the least. "When I ran a search through all known religions both old and new I found a match. They belong to an anti-mutant religious organization known as the Church of Humanity. Like the Friends of Humanity they consider mutants abominations that go against the will of God. I don't think I need to paint you a picture of what they're likely to do with her."

"But doesn't she have powers and training?" he asked even though his level of concern went up a level.

"Based on the state of their clothes as well as other visible injuries, I believe that they did put up a fight but either they were overwhelmed by superior numbers or special strategy they had no counter for," Lianna replied with the micro screen changing to show specific injuries on Miss Lee's body. "In any case, I believe we have grounds to presume that Miss Lee's life is in danger of termination."

"Give me her precise location," he ordered, willing his casual clothes to shift into his GL uniform, complete with mask. "Access whatever you need to keep a constant lock on where she is. Cameras, satellites, EVERYTHING! Also open a line to the Xavier Institute. They need to be alerted. Keep ringing the phone until someone picks up then put them through to me."

"Acknowledged, Lantern Prime," Lianna said, taking on a more professional tone.

With that the screen changed completely to show him a direction, a distance, the speed and even the elevation of the vehicle Miss Lee was being held captive in.

"Looks like you're going to get a workout before bedtime, Dawn," he said, looking over his shoulder at the jade-haired girl. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Someone needs our help," Dawn said, sounding like she was prepared to fight alongside him like some kind of side-kick. "Let's get to it."

With a nod he upped his speed so that they'd get to the vehicle inside of five minutes.

No way was he going to let some anti-mutant bigots with religious excuses for murder knock off a potential Green Lantern.

 _ **The Highway Leading From Brooklyn to Salem Center**_

 _ **Dawn's POV**_

"There they are!" she exclaimed pointing to the eighteen wheeler whose movements matched those of the icon on the screen in front of her.

"Yep! Here's how it's going to go: I'll scan the truck and look for mutant life signs," Xander said in a take charge attitude that was just SO cool. "Once my ring's isolated them I'll send out however many encapsulation constructs are necessary to secure them and get them out of harm's way. You'll be in charge of tending to their wounds and protecting them. I'll handle taking down those Church of Humanity bigots."

She wanted to argue about not being permitted to take part in the actual fighting but, unlike her sister, she had sense enough to listen to reason. She knew that while her construct creating skills were getting better, they weren't at a level where she was confident using them in a fight. She could create walls and barriers well enough that she didn't think she had to worry about bullets punching through but anything more complex was a little hit or miss with her. Better she stick to what she could be confident in rather than risk screwing up by trying something she still needed a lot of practice with.

It was at that point that Xander set her down at the first flat patch of land they came across before heading after the truck for the next stage of the plan. When she heard the sound of metal being torn apart rather than cut she knew that her future husband had successfully removed the mutant victims. Looking up, she watched as coffin-like capsules moved through the air towards her location, with only a single line of green energy connecting them to Xander's ring. As they touched down the capsules vanished and immediately she went to work with the medical kit that'd been packed with her things. Thinking of that, she really hoped that they could wrap this up quick because, even if the rooftop Xander had put her things on didn't have an access door, her mind was coming up with some rather strange possibilities of how things could go wrong.

Looking at the grey skinned young man, it was a little hard to tell what was his natural skin color and what was the result of an injury, but at least when it came to cuts and such. It was a good spot of luck that she'd gotten enough practice in with tending to whatever wounds the Scoobies got alongside her mother, since it made this easier. She wouldn't be able to handle any of the more serious wounds but basic first aid plus a few extra things were well within her abilities to treat. Hearing a groan from her patient, she looked to his face and saw that he seemed to be coming around, albeit with some instability to that consciousness.

"Don't worry. You're safe now," she said reassuringly even as she continued to tend his wounds. "Try not to move, though. You're more than a little beat up at the moment."

"Never…pays to…argue with…a pretty… Niña…" the young man managed to get out of his lips, even though it was a struggle to do so.

"Keep that in mind and you'll get along just fine with whoever your girlfriend is," she said with a smile since the guy was one step ahead of most of the male population with that statement.

As carefully as she could she probed his body for broken bones but thankfully, from what she could find, there weren't any, but there were some painful points where pressure caused the guy to wince. She decided to leave them alone since she didn't have anything really that could make them go away and moved onto the next person on the ground. That person turned out to be Jubilation Lee but thankfully this time there were no unusual skin colors getting in the way of her accurately figuring out where to apply the bandages. It wasn't pretty to look at since the damage to the girl's clothes was mirrored on her body, so she did her best to tend to the injuries. Some of the cuts on her body were deep, though, and the blood was flowing freely from them, so she had to work quickly if she was to prevent death by blood loss. Prioritizing the larger cuts over the smaller ones she did what she could to stem the bleeding before applying the bandages to each one. She was going through the supplies in the medical kit she brought from home but she had to keep going. She had to do everything she could to make sure each of the mutants, her fellow mutants, survived until they could receive proper medical attention.

Just as she was finishing the bandaging, movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, causing her to look to see what it was.

It was probably what saved her life and the lives of those under her care.

It was instinct more than anything that caused her to raise a barrier with her powers but it proved to be enough to protect all of them from the bullets. Now that she had the time she saw two men in weird priest robes wielding automatic weaponry, with the obvious intent of ending their lives. She could feel the impact of the bullets on her barrier but they weren't putting enough strain on her to make her think that they'd break through her barrier anytime soon.

Of course that was the time that they added the grenade launchers attached to the underside of their assault rifles.

Then things went from people throwing dozens of peanuts at her to people throwing one bowling ball after another at her shield. It definitely brought the challenge to a new level but, if it turned out that this was the best the false priests could bring, then she could hold out long enough for Xander to finish off with his group and come back to help her.

She should've known better than to taunt Murphy like that.

A moment later a van pulled off to the side of the highway and out of it came three men armed with weapons that looked decidedly more powerful than an assault rifle and grenade launcher combo. Using her other arm to brace the one generating the dome barrier, she quickly reviewed everything Xander had said about making them, maintaining them and making them strong. It was a helluva time to put his lessons into practice and it made her wonder just how fanatical these idiots were that they'd bring this kind of hardware to bear just to kill seven mutants. Whatever they'd been planning to do had obviously gone south thanks to Xander and she didn't believe they had any weapon or warrior that could defeat her destined boyfriend. The smart move would've been for them to scatter and regroup at a safe fallback position where they could lie low and wait for the heat to die down. That's how it worked in all the movies and TV shows she'd seen where the bad guys get their plans ruined by the good guys.

Apparently these idiots liked reading their scripture more than watching a good TV show or catching a flick at the local theatre.

FWOOSH!

BBOOOMM!

Feeling the first rocket slam into her barrier and explode jarred both her construct as well as her body but she managed to endure it well enough.

FWOOSH! FWOOSH!

BBOOOOOMMMM! BBOOOMM!

Two impacting and detonating one after the other, though, caused a rather painful spasm to zip down her main arm and into her brain, causing her to wince. Fortunately you don't live in Sunnydale long before you learn to work past the pain to keep both yourself and your loved ones safe so stay strong until backup showed up.

She had to.

 _Not any longer Miss Summers,_ came a thought in her mind that didn't belong to Miss Frost. _The cavalry has arrived._

Seeing a bright orange light approaching in the night sky, she was amazed to see a giant bird made of flame and at its core were four people. She recognized them from the news broadcasts and the various newspaper articles she'd bothered to read, given how boring all the other articles were in her opinion.

Jean Grey, aka Phoenix.

Cousin Scott, aka Cyclops.

Logan, aka Wolverine.

Lorna Dane, aka Polaris.

"You guys are SO screwed now!" she said, looking at the idiot priests and wondering if they'd finally get a clue and start running.

It wouldn't help them but at least it'd prove that they all HAD brains and knew how to use them.

 _ **A Few Days Later**_

 _ **The Xavier Institute, Late Morning**_

 _ **Xander's POV**_

 _I have feeling that I'm going to need to have a MOUNTAIN's worth of tolerance and patience from here on out,_ he thought as he willed his GL power battery out of its pocket dimension. _Every planet is going to have it's own culture or cultures along with sets of beliefs that won't match what I was raised on. Even if the first thing to come to mind is to tell them that they're wrong I'll have to remember that they're NOT humans and that I have no right to force my ways on them._

Depending on what happened while he was on the planet, he'd probably wind up at least voicing his position and at most thinking 'to hell with it' before trying to straighten things out using his playbook.

Turning his attention back to the battery that'd settled on the dresser that came with the room, he raised his ring hand, pointing the symbol of the Corps at the glowing light. He remembered how Lianna had told him that a Green Lantern's oath wasn't a set one that all members would have to use and that each GL could come up with one that suited them and their view of their duty. However when he'd asked her for an example she recited one that to him pretty much said it all and even with his vast knowledge of fiction he didn't think he'd be able to come up with something better.

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power Green Lantern's light!"

With a flare of energy and light the charging process was complete, leaving him with a full twenty-four hours before he'd have to do it again. With a thought he sent his battery back to its pocket dimension before focusing on what he had to do now.

The rescue of the mutants from the back of the bigots' truck had gone according to his plan and thankfully, between Dawn's emergency medical care as well as the facilities at the Institute, all of them made it. Some would take longer to mend than others due to the nature of their mutations but thankfully the one he needed to speak with would be walking around in a day or three. Whatever beating had been dealt to Miss Lee had been nasty but no vital organs were damaged or major bones broken. He knew that he could use the blue hope part of the electromagnetic emotional spectrum to heal her injuries faster but he didn't want it to become a crutch for him. He didn't want to fall into the line of thinking that he could be careless on the battlefield because he could just use blue hope to heal everyone afterwards. That wasn't the type of Lantern Prime he wanted to be and besides that, without linking up with Lianna, he lacked sufficient medical knowledge to heal more than light injuries on his own. By now he'd bet good money that his activities had just about every intelligence agency on the planet looking for information on him and those countries with satellites would be monitoring activity in the solar system.

He dare not give them the means to figure out where Oa was located.

Not until the Corps was at least at half strength.

So for the moment all he was going to do was make the sales pitch, answer whatever questions she might have about the Corps and then see what she wanted to do. It'd be nice if he could use the same selling point that he used with Marcus, let her test drive the ring, but until she was one hundred percent back on her feet he didn't want to risk worsening her injuries. Besides, she was a Californian just like him and he remembered all too well his first efforts at using the ring to fly… suffice it to say he was lucky to have done it near the Central Power Battery since it allowed Lianna to save him.

Exiting the guest room he'd stayed in for the night, he walked down the hallways, passing various students and teachers alike as he went. His mind boggled a bit at the sheer variety in the mutants all around him and how their x-gene chose to manifest itself. Some mutants stayed looking completely human physically but had a power hidden inside them until they chose to bring it to the surface in order to make use of it. Others experienced physical changes along with their respective powers, ranging from additional limbs, to fur to compound eyes, and then there was the real strange looking one. There was a student who looked basically like a skeleton plus eyes surrounded by some kind of gelatinous substance molded in a mostly humanoid shape. While he found some of the shapes and forms odd, he didn't once think of them as monsters. To him they were just teenagers who got a little extra added to their DNA strand and were dealing with it the best they could. He applauded the Institute's efforts to provide a place where they could learn to master their abilities and get an education at the same time.

However he also bemoaned the fact that there weren't more places like this across the globe for mutants who couldn't afford to make the trip to America.

The whole mutant-human relations thing was such a quagmire of viewpoints that trying to clean it up would be trying to clean up the largest, dirtiest, most disorganized building on the planet solo, where you had to solve brain buster puzzles to get from floor to floor. Basically it'd take people a lot smarter than him, resolve that could stop even the mightiest villain in their tracks and a couple centuries of time.

Funny thing was that, thanks to his upgrades, he'd likely be around when the whole thing was finally resolved.

As the elevator that'd take him to the sub-level where the infirmary was came into sight, he saw that he wasn't the only one headed down. While a part of him would prefer not to be in an enclosed space with the woman, it did provide an opportunity for him to hopefully reach an understanding with her. Hopefully she was a good enough person that she'd understand his situation and acknowledge the reasons for his request.

"Morning, Miss Frost," he said as he came to a stop next to her as they waited for the elevator car. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, I did, Xander. Thank you for asking," Miss Frost replied with a polite smile. "I take it you're going to see Jubilee?"

"I'm betting you already know the answer to that," he said as the elevator doors opened up. "You seem to have enough trust issues that you prefer to get your answers from people's heads rather than hear it come from their mouths."

"If you're referring to our first encounter in Mister Giles' establishment, I barely made an effort," she said, sounding disappointed in his tone. "What you were not broadcasting mentally you had at the very surface of your mind. Besides, I only took a look because I was concerned that you might not be acquainted with anyone present at the time and the discussion concerning Miss Summers' future was a private one."

"I guess that makes sense," he said, acknowledging that letting people not in the know hear things was a bad idea. "Still, I do hope you'll keep what you picked up from my mind to yourself. I take my responsibilities as Lantern Prime quite seriously and I'd prefer people not learn too much about the Corps before I have the resources necessary to handle it."

"Then you can put your mind at ease because I have no intention of telling anyone what I learned," she said oddly with what could be considered respect in her voice. "You're going to have enough problems putting together an intergalactic peace keeping force without me adding to them. I promise that no one will pry what I've learned from you out of my head."

"Rather strong words considering we're practically strangers. Any particular reason why you're so set on keeping my secrets safe?" he asked, wondering what sort of angle the woman was working.

"Suffice it to say having someone of your power and resources as an ally could prove most helpful down the road," she replied with a 'I have all the angles cover' grin. "And we mutants need all the help we can get."

Point.

"Assuming Miss Lee agrees to take the job and, once I have both her along with her partner trained up, there'll be two Green Lantern's in the sector at all times barring an emergency elsewhere. If I get word that something big is going down and you need my help, I'll come barring something even bigger going on somewhere else," he declared, figuring it'd be best to lay out the truth. "Once the Corps has enough members in neighboring sectors they'll be willing to back up Miss Lee and her partner barring an emergency in their own sectors. That's about the most I can promise at the moment."

"And what's the likelihood of there being emergencies elsewhere?" she asked, sounding like she already had a good idea.

"Considering the universe has had millennia to get used to the idea of there not being a Green Lantern Corps I think it's safe to say they won't like the idea. Some people will probably try to turn my organization to their advantage or neutralize it somehow," he replied, remembering some of the things Lianna had told him about her reconnaissance efforts on the rest of the galaxy. "That'll mean a lot of trouble to work through, a lot of fires to put out and probably a long period of scrutiny before the more law-abiding members of the universe learn to trust the Green Lantern Corps. Earth is my home, humanity my people, and I'll do everything I can to help keep it safe but just keep in mind that no one can be everywhere at once."

"That's all any of us can do, Xander," she said as they reached their target sub-level. "That's all any of us can do."

 _ **Xavier Institute Infirmary**_

 _ **Jubilation Lee's POV**_

 _Another wonderful day as a mutant,_ she thought as she lay in one of the med-bay's beds. _Woo-hoo!_

You'd think she'd have gotten used to it by now but, even after all the time that'd passed since she took a trip to the Australian outback via one of Gateway's portals, getting the crap beat out of you was no fun. After she'd found the strength to she'd tried to remember how she'd let a couple of psycho priests get the drop on her and the others but all she could remember clearly was walking down a sidewalk with her friends and then… nothing. Best she could figure that meant that either they'd managed to knock her silly in one go or whatever she'd been through before being rescued had been so bad that her mind figured burying the info was better than remembering it. Considering some of the things she'd been through since joining up with the X-Men, she was in no hurry to open that can of worms any sooner than she had to.

 _I hope Wolvie makes'em hurt extra just for me!_ she thought, wishing she'd been healed up enough to join the team going after those Church of Humanity assholes.

Still, if that nurse that'd been minding her, Skin and Magma was telling the truth, the Grim Reaper had missed its mark by less than a hair with the three of them. If it hadn't been for some new cape calling himself 'Green Lantern' of all things, she'd likely be dead right now and that'd suck beyond the telling of it. According to what Logan had told her, before leaving the guy had been on his way to the Institute with a new student when he'd spotted those scuzzballs at work. She hadn't met the guy since waking up in the med-bay but she'd have to make sure to thank him next chance she got. She might not be all prissy and high society like Miss Frost but she had manners enough to thank someone who'd done her a solid like saving her life.

Almost as if summoned, the door to the room opened up and a guy in his mid-twenties walked in, wearing a costume that pretty much cemented that he was Green Lantern. If it wasn't the large amounts of green involved in the composition then it was symbol set directly in the center of his chest that made his identity clear. Behind him strode in Miss Frost, looking like she had almost all of the answers to the questions filling her head at the moment.

Hopefully she wouldn't need to remain in the dark for too long.

"Glad to see you awake and looking stronger, Miss Lee," Green Lantern said as he came to a stop at the foot of her bed. "It'll make it easier to make my offer."

"Offer?" she asked, feeling like someone had thrown her a curveball and her mind was having trouble catching up.

"Yep. I had two reasons for heading for the Institute tonight," he replied, sounding like he was just another member of the team. "The first was to help a friend move in and the second was to find you. Of course I didn't know you were gonna get abducted or else I would've come sooner."

"Hey, you saved us and kicked ass. It's all good," she said, trying to pass off his tardiness as no big thing. "So what'd you want to find me for?"

"Well, the thing is I putting together an intergalactic organization that's part peace keeping force, part law enforcement, and your name came up as a potential recruit," he replied before taking on a more official look and body language. "You have the ability to overcome great fear, Miss Lee, so I'm offering you a chance to join the Green Lantern Corps."

And there came the ball slamming into her head from left field, along with her control over her lower jaw as it dropped halfway to the floor.

 _Do show some civility and compose yourself, Jubilation,_ Miss Frost thought into her skull with her usual superior and cultured tone. _I will not have a former student of mine looking like a simpleton._

Naturally her pride chose that moment to kick in and cause her to look at the co-head of the Institute with a glare but, when she spotted the smug grin on Frost's face, she knew that'd been the objective all along. The blonde had probably predicted that she'd easily fall into old habits if baited and that it'd knock her out her shock in the blink of an eye.

 _Precisely._

 _Bitch._ She turned her gaze back to GL. "Why me? I don't exactly scream 'space cop' when you look at me."

"There's more to people than looks, Miss Lee. I plan on putting two Green Lanterns in every known sector of space, so that'll mean a lot of alien races on the roster," he replied with a reassuring smile. "I think it'll be safe to say that there won't be any one version of 'space cop' to work with. Besides, the two top qualifications for being a member of the Corps is possessing the ability to overcome fear and being fairly honest."

"'Fairly honest'?" she asked, wondering at the combo of words.

"No one's completely honest. We all lie, to others and to ourselves, whether we know it or not," he replied casually to her question. "There'll probably even be times when lying will be needed in order to save lives. But it's hard to trust someone who lies more often than they tell the truth. In order to do our jobs, we'll need the trust of the rest of the Corps and the people we'll be protecting."

"Makes sense," she said, thinking through the concept herself.

"What exactly are the rules your Corps will be operating by? Will you abide by the laws of each individual world you approach?" Miss Frost asked, speaking up for the first time since entering the room.

"Green Lanterns will do their best to respect the laws, culture and beliefs of each world in their assigned sector. However no one can predict the future and there will be times when in order to save the most lives and do the most good, the Corps will have to ignore the wishes of a world or empire," Green Lantern replied, turning to answer the telepath eye to eye. "If a world has a reputation for conquering their neighbors and committing what any sentient would consider war crimes, they would be considered a hostile world and Green Lanterns will be given greater leeway to deal with them. It won't mean a Green Lantern can start using the same playbook as the hostile world, though, just that they can do what they have to do in order to force a retreat or surrender or the apprehension of the guilty sentient."

"That implies a certain level of subjectivity, Green Lantern," Miss Frost said, pointing out what was obvious to all. "Just as everyone lies, everyone also has their own personal idea of what 'good' is. Some might think that doing the most good means completely annihilating the opposition."

"It's true that the Lantern assigned to a specific sector will be given a certain degree of discretion in how they carry out their duties but there will be oversight," Green Lantern said, holding up the hand to show a ring made of a dark green metal. "Inside their ring will be the equivalent of a black box recorder that'll store every action willed by the wearer. When the Lantern recharges their ring, something that'll need to be done once every twenty-four Earth hours, the information will be uploaded directly to the Central Power Battery at the main HQ. There the information will be evaluated to determine if the Lantern needs to be disciplined, suspended or outright expelled from the Corps. If the crime is severe enough, imprisonment is also a possibility."

"What if the Lantern gains access to the 'recorder' and deletes their illegal activities?" Frost asked, looking for further details.

While she didn't like the blonde getting involved in something that only concerned her, she had to admit that the questions the White Queen was asking were good ones, so she kept quiet.

"I won't say it's impossible but I don't think it's likely. The Green Lantern power rings are the culmination of the work done by my predecessors, who lived on the planet Maltus. As far as I know, no other race in the galaxy has been able to duplicate their work or come up with something close," Green Lantern replied honestly. "If the right minds had the right equipment and enough time, I guess they could figure out how to access the records but security protocols are in place to block that. Indeed, it's one of the rules that every Lantern has to obey that they're to make every effort to prevent their rings from being examined by anyone. If they willingly allow it to be examined then they will be apprehended and brought to HQ for trial. I will not allow power ring technology to fall into anyone else's hands. It's simply too dangerous to be allowed into circulation."

"How dangerous can a piece of jewelry be?" she asked even though she didn't really know what it could do besides heal people.

In response to her inquiry Green Lantern grinned before energy leapt out from the ring before taking on the appearance of the Hulk. A VERY realistic looking Hulk that looked VERY pissed.

"A Green Lantern's ring is easily one of the most powerful weapons in the galaxy. It's only limited by your imagination, your willpower and the maximum energy storage capacity of the ring. You need a barrage of missiles? Will them into existence with whatever amount of destructive power you want," Green Lantern explained as the Hulk changed into mini-missiles. "Need to restrain someone? Will chains into existence and wrap them around the target as tight as you think they need to be. You can also fly with this in the air, in outer space and even go FTL if you need to."

"FTL?" she asked, not being familiar with that alphabet combo.

"It means you'd be able to fly faster than the speed of light, Jubilee," Frost said with a bit of condescension in her voice. "Really, I know you spent some time hanging out with the boys, you should know at least the basics of science fiction technology, especially when taking into account your adventures off world."

She was about to say something when her mind twigged to the fact that mentioned being knowledgeable of the basics of science fiction. Definitely not something miss high society and best-money-can-buy would be interested in if she stuck to the usual stuff people like that did.

 _You of all people should know better than to put any stock in stereotypes, Jubilation,_ Miss Frost thought into her mind. _Stereotypes are at the root of the prejudice of mutantkind and must be exposed as the lies they are._

True.

Didn't mean that she wouldn't have fun filling in Paige later about Frost watching sci-fi stuff.

 _Just as I won't mind discussing some of your more embarrassing moments as a member of Generation X afterwards,_ Frost thought casually at her but with a bit of implied threat mixed in with the words.

Telepaths didn't play fair.

 _Life isn't fair, my dear,_ Frost thought into her head. _The sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be._

Whatever.

The idea of being some sort of space cop wasn't all that appealing since she'd never been all that big a fan of authority, but at the same time getting the chance to explore the Final Frontier had a sort of coolness factor to it. Add to that all the things she'd be able to do with one of those power rings and her decision was pretty much made.

"Sign me up, boss."

"Aren't you being a bit hasty?" Frost asked, sounding like that is what she believed. "While I admit I see the appeal of this young man's offer, you should really take more time to think it over. Consider all you'd be leaving behind."

"I'm not asking her never to set foot on Earth again, Miss Frost," Green Lantern said, trying to play down the sacrifice angle. "If you want to call Earth home that's fine. All you'd be asked to do was be ready to head off to one of the other inhabited worlds in sector two eight one four if there's a crisis there that needs your help. Plus you're not going to be the only one assigned to the sector, so unless the problem is something more than one person can handle you don't necessarily have to be the one to handle whatever problem's popped up."

"You mean I'm going to have a partner? Who?" she asked with mixed feelings about not being Earth's only Green Lantern.

"You'll meet him once you're well enough to begin training," GL replied while not really answering her question. "I've been trying to pick partners that'll complement each other, so just try to picture your opposite without putting them in the bad guy category."

She cringed at the image her mind came up with because to her the opposite would be a rules obsessed ice queen that was about as fun as watching dried paint.

She waited for the telepathically eavesdropping Frost to say 'do you not mean paint drying' so she could come back and say 'no because that'd be a little more interesting', but it never happened.

The smug smile on Frost's face made it clear that she'd seen the trap of words coming well in advance and had casually sidestepped it.

"I'll give you a week to tie up any loose ends you might have here on Earth," Green Lantern said as he began to walk towards the med-bay door. "Then I'm pulling you and your partner off Earth for hardcore training from hell. Here's hoping you're ready by then!"

Some people might've been worried by the words but she'd been trained by the best, so she seriously doubted this newbie hero and space cop could do worse than anything she'd been through before. Wolvie could probably train her harder than this guy could!

 _Guess I better say my goodbyes,_ she thought as she watched GL leave the room. _Good thing everyone I care about is under one roof at the moment._

 _ **Xander's POV**_

 _Well that's two down and six to go,_ he thought as he ascended out of Earth's atmosphere and set course for the wormhole aperture at the edge of the system. _Once I have them all, I can start building the Corps foundation._

As far as the math was concerned the Corps would number seventy-two hundred once every sector was filled with a duo of Lanterns but to get the ball rolling he needed to select recruits that'd make for a good first group. Marcus Johnson and Jubilation Lee were good first choices for sector two eight one four, both due to their combat experience as well as how they compensated for their partner's deficiencies. Marcus was military trained, which meant set ways of handling situations as well as a healthy respect for the chain of command. Jubilee, on the other hand, might've been trained to fight alongside of the X-Men but in his mind she'd have great adaptability and resourcefulness. Once they got over the initial friction that their opposing ways of thinking would create, he predicted that they'd become a force to be reckoned with. Plus he figured that their friends both in the American military and X-Men they'd be good resources to tap in case something big came up.

Now he just needed to move to the sector that Lianna had designated as next to be filled on his list, as well as the potential recruits to be found there.

"So what's the name of the first recruit for the next sector, Lianna?" he asked as he willed his ring to open the aperture.

"Her name is Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan. She was born on the planet Zen-Whoberi to a peaceful people who were wiped out by a religious order looking to make a galaxy-wide empire. She was rescued by Thanos of Titan, who took her to his ship and raised her as his ward," Lianna replied, manifesting a small holographic avatar out of his ring. "However before you think of Thanos as being a good person, you should be aware that he's often called 'The Mad Titan' and that for a long time he worshipped Death. For him Death exists as a sentient entity and a component of the galaxy. For many years he's committed countless terrible acts in an effort to gain her favor, up to and including destroying all of reality. According to the sources I've been able to dig through, he's supposedly given up on that in favor of scientific discovery but no one really believes him."

"With that kinda guy for a dad, I doubt she had an easy time growing up," he said, wincing at the images his imagination was conjuring.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a gift for understatement?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "He used the technology he possessed to give her enhanced humanoid abilities and altered her perceptions via various methods so she wouldn't see what he asked her to do as being evil. From there he trained her in the skills necessary to become the perfect weapon to use against his enemies. Every time she was defeated he used his resources to enhance her further until she was given the title 'the most dangerous woman in the galaxy', since she was capable of holding her own against some of the most powerful people in the known worlds."

"And we want to recruit the sociopath WHY…?" he asked, thinking that the morally vacant adopted daughter of a death fanboy was questionable at best..

"She broke away from him years ago when he tried to serve up all of reality as a sacrifice to Death and finally came to her senses. She's had a bumpy ride since then but has managed to keep from relapsing into his loyal subordinate and has even helped stop him from time to time," Lianna replied before a holographic view screen appeared, listing various events where Gamora fought on the side of the angels. "Since then she's been wandering the galaxy as a mercenary looking for employment and entertainment, either by themselves or at the same time. I've been tracking her movements via the law enforcement networks of various worlds that of course have her appearance on file, among other identifying features, and I've confirmed she's on a transport heading to a world called Baligiest. If you maintain FTL speed and use the wormhole network efficiently, you should be able to get there shortly after her arrival."

"What're the odds of her accepting the offer?" he asked before calling up the spatial coordinates of the planet Beligiest and adjusting his course accordingly.

"Difficult to say. The fact that she's chosen a mercenary's way of life implies that she wants to be her own boss. However she has chosen to join other organizations before and stay with them for a good while before walking away, so getting her to accept entry into the Corps isn't impossible," she replied, sounding hopeful but not certain. "I'd advise emphasizing the 'entertaining' battles she'd be involved in if she joined, as well as perhaps letting her take a power ring for a test drive. Preferably one of the twenty-four hour ones rather than a permanent one."

"I should probably also tell her that she can walk away later if she wants to but there'll probably have to be some sort of memory wipe or suppression done for security's sake," he said, considering what could happen in the future. "Even if she promises never to tell anyone anything important, we both know there're ways to pull intel out of people who don't want to give it up willingly. Until the Corps is at least up to one third strength, we can't afford to have critical stuff falling into the hands of the wrong people."

"THAT might prove difficult with Gamora," she said, sounding like violence might be involved. "She was likely traumatized by the numerous enhancements done by Thanos, as well as the mental rewiring he did to make sure she wouldn't have any ethical issues following orders. The prospect of having her mind tampered with again, even for justifiable reasons, could provoke a… violent reaction."

"Well we'll have to come up with something to make sure the Corps secrets stay secret," he said while channeling his will into speed. "With a little luck there'll be something she'll be willing to accept and something that we can accept too."

Given how messed up his brand of luck tended to be, whatever they wound up doing would probably wind up coming back to bite him in the ass.

From streaking stars to the distortion field that made up the wormholes established by the Guardians millennia ago, he travelled through the cosmos towards the planet where Lianna said Gamora would be. As he flew he reviewed the information the A.I. had collected on the potential recruit and he had to admit that she'd be one helluva addition to the Green Lantern Corps. While Jubilee might've had some experience dealing with aliens and galaxy level threats, they couldn't even come close to what Gamora had been through. If anyone could help them navigate the various cultures and empires of the galaxy it'd be this green warrior princess. Still, it looked like, while no longer a bad girl, she still leaned a bit further in the direction of finishing her opponents off for good rather than using the bare minimum force needed to subdue them. Assuming she joined the Corps, he'd have to emphasize that lethal force was only to be used as an option of last resort. Considering the near infinite number of things that could be created with a Green Lantern power ring, the situation would have to be pretty dire or short on time for killing to be the only option. If Gamora was half as skilled as the information said she was, he'd have every reason to believe killing was necessary if the adopted daughter of Thanos couldn't conjure up a better ending.

Of course that presumed that she even bothered looking for the better ending in the first place.

Coming out of FTL speed in the same system as Baligiest, he veered towards the planet following the destination icon placed just in front the eyeholes in his mask. After all, installing a GL H.U.D. was much more efficient than willing a galactic roadmap into existence for a trip that could take hours. Not that a GL couldn't do it the latter way if they wanted, since the ring allowed for a great deal of customization in order to best fit the individual. The only things that couldn't be changed would be the color scheme of the uniform and the presence of the badge of office somewhere on or near the chest area. Back during his own training on Oa, he'd reviewed the stored information in his ring both to pass the time as well as to get an idea of the piece of jewelry's origins. He'd gotten to see numerous uniform designs, ranging from the traditional ones that every new recruit got when they received the ring to those who ascended to honor guard rank. As was only natural he tended to stick to those GLs who were humanoid in nature but he looked at those Lanterns who weren't anywhere near human as well. After all, it was impossible that every single sector of known space had a sentient humanoid race with a member that was suitable for recruitment, so he'd have to get used to the more nonhuman designs.

"ALERT! Recruit Gamora is in mortal danger!" Lianna suddenly exclaimed, snapping his attention to his ring immediately. "Hurry, Lantern Prime!"

"What's going on?" he asked even as he doubled his rate of descent while keeping the destination icon in the middle of his H.U.D.

Of course his other question was whether or not arriving just in time to rescue his recruits was going to be the norm from here on out.

It didn't take long to make it through the atmosphere or to turn an entire continent into a single city, but once he arrived it didn't take him long to see why Lianna thought the recruit was in mortal danger. She was almost in the exact middle of a stadium and had somehow become the target of everyone else there but her. Once he got close enough that magnification wasn't needed he could tell that, while the mob might have the edge in numbers, they were nowhere close to being Gamora's equal in sheer skill.

The big guy in blue and gold armor on the stage, however, was showing off power that could easily render skill irrelevant. Honestly, he looked like a knock off of Iron Man but the power he possessed was either more than the Avenger was capable of or Earth's hero was seriously holding back how devastating his palm blasts were. It didn't help that the big man didn't seem to care if people on the same side as him got hit and killed by the blasts meant for Gamora. Deciding that the heavy hitter needed to be taken down before he went to work creating some breathing room for his potential recruit, he stepped in.

"Hey! Tin Grin!" he shouted, willing his construct into existence. "You're supposed to wait until you're tagged in before fighting!"

In the form of a basic professional wrestler with no face, he had it execute a shoulder block takedown worthy of the man called Goldberg. Unfortunately he'd underestimated the weight and mass of his target and his construct only managed to make its target stagger back a few steps, as well as lose some of his balance. A few seconds later a potent energy blast succeeded in shattering his construct before the armored enemy turn his gaze upwards.

"Who dares defy the almighty Thanos?" the big guy asked in a deep digitized voice.

"The name's Green Lantern, Thanos," he replied even as he prepared to execute an even stronger attack. "Remember it!"

Instead of going with a construct he simply let loose a blast of emerald energy that was easily two to three times as powerful as what he'd put into the wrestler. THIS had the more desirable result as it sent the armored Thanos flying off his feet and into the large view screen behind him, shattering the materials it was made out of. However the armor Thanos wore was doing its job and, as the mad titan pulled himself out of the remains of the view screen with no sign of being hurt, he realized that fighting more was too risky. He just didn't have enough information about Thanos' abilities to know just how hard he could hit the guy without doing permanent harm. That plus the fact that his goal was simply to deliver Gamora from harm and he knew what he had to do. Forming constructs that looked like the thug football team from hell, he sent them at Thanos with the same amount of strength as the energy blast that'd proven so effective before. It wouldn't do much more than disorient the armored giant but he would get the opening he needed to get out of the stadium with Gamora.

It took less than a glance to locate her and less than four seconds to put her in a protective sphere before ascending up into the air beyond the reach of the mob of Thanos fans. Feeling blows against the inside of the sphere, he turned and saw that the recruit was trying to free herself and it took him a moment to realize how his actions could paint him as an enemy.

"Relax, Gamora of Zen-Whoberi. I am not an enemy," he said even as he realized how empty the words probably sounded. "Staying in the stadium gained neither of us anything and plus I needed to talk to you so leaving was the best move."

"What business do you have with me?" Gamora asked, sheathing her dagger and holstering her blaster.

"I'm building an organization of peace keepers and law enforcers and, when looking for people to recruit, your name came up." He decided to keep things short since the green woman didn't strike him as being patient with people she didn't know. "If you don't like the idea of joining an organization, you can consider this a long term job. Word is you're a mercenary so I'm sure we can come to a fair deal."

"Like the Nova Corps?" she asked, sounding like she might decline.

"Only in that I intend to have members of various races join," he replied, deciding that he needed to make the GL Corps seem different from the Nova Corps. "While they only cover the Andromeda Galaxy, I intend to put two officers of my Corps in every sector of the Milky Way galaxy in order to keep the peace. Protecting the lives and freedoms of the people would be our primary concern while at the same time doing our best to respect the sovereignty of established governments. Doesn't mean we won't kick their asses if they cross one too many lines, though."

She grinned a bit at this and he figured it was probably because she found it amusing that he was able to say he'd fight against empires that'd existed for centuries if they acted contrary to his concepts of right and wrong.

"So how many sectors are you planning to fill?" she asked, sounding like she was willing to entertain the conversation a little while longer.

"Thirty six hundred. So if all goes well we'll number seventy-two hundred," he replied, knowing right then and there that he probably ridiculously ambitious.

"Only seventy-two hundred? That's barely the same as a Kree capital occupation force," she said, sounding like she was unimpressed with the size the GL Corps would be at once fully formed.

"With the power and versatility of a ring like mine, a single officer in my Corps will be able to handle an infantry force of hundreds. Even an enemy battle cruiser wouldn't be too much for one armed with a power ring to take down," he said, confident in his words thanks to all he had learned from his ring. "All in all, if we had to, once at full strength, we could probably make any of the known empires think twice about provoking a confrontation with us. Even if they wound up killing the Corps to the last sentient, we'd take a big enough chunk out of their forces that it'd leave them vulnerable to their enemies."

"Now that is something I'd like to see," she said with an amused smile, "but for now I need to find out what Thanos is up to. If he's fallen into old habits then the entire galaxy is at risk."

"Count me in. As a member of the Green Lantern Corps, it's my duty to protect the galaxy from any and all threats," he said as they began to travel to the edge of the system. "Where to now?"

"Thanos has a number of hideouts scattered across the backwaters of the galaxy. Most have long since been discovered and destroyed but I can think of a few that haven't been found yet," Gamora replied, taking on a semi-formal posture inside the sphere surrounding her. "If Thanos is up to something, he'll be operating out of one of them. Even if he isn't, we might be able to find something to point us in the right direction."

"Give me the spatial coordinates," he said as he prepared to put them into his ring's navigation program. "I can have us there in hours."

A moment later he had them and with a thought he accelerated to faster than light speeds.


End file.
